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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

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View of Market Square

Showing the First Baptist Meeting-house on the left,
the old " Coffee House " in the centre, and the old Market
House on the right. This is the earliest view of the
square, and is taken from the diploma of the Providence
Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers. It was
drawn about 1824.

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PROVIDENCE

Colonial Times

By Gertrude Selwyn Kimball

PFifb an introduction by J. Franklin Jameson, LL.D.
ILLUSTRATED

Boston & New York

Houghton Mifflin Company

mdccccxii

FIVE HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES
PRINTED AT THE RIVERSIDE PRESS
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
NUMBER ^^S^

Contents

I. The Planter and his Plantation 3

II. The Age of the Charters 23
III. Roger Williams and the Town of

Providence — King Philip's War 60

IV. The Seventeenth Century 100
V. A Group of Newcomers and King's

Church 145
VI. Progress, Ecclesiastical and Secu-
lar 188
VII. The Shipping Trade 226
VIII. The Colonial Town of Providence 278

IX. Rhode Island College and the

"Baptist Cathedral" 335

X. Providence Houses, 1785-1830 2^^

Index 377

Illustrations

View of Market Square Frontispiece

Showing the First Baptist Meeting-house on the left,
the old "Coffee House "in the centre, and the old Market
House on the right. This is the earliest view of the
square, and is taken from the diploma of the Providence
Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers. It was
drawn about 1824.

Roger Williams House at Salem 10

From a drawing in Edwin Whitefield's Homes of our
Forefathers in Massachusetts, 1880.

Compass and Sun-dial 16

Owtied by Roger Williams and presumably used by him
on his journey into exile in 1635. Its line of descent has
been traced from Roger Williams to its present custodian,
the Rhode Island Historical Society.

Picture of Slate Rock and Seekonk River 18

From a water-color sketch painted by Edward L. Peck-
ham in 1832, now in the Rhode Island Historical Society.

Map of Providence 24

Showing the residents of the town, 1650. Compiled by
Henry R. Chace.

Title-page to Roger Williams's "Key to the

Indian Language" 34

From the original in the John Carter Brown Library.

Richard Smith Block-house at Cocumscussuc 46

Constructed by Richard Smith, Jr., about 1680, partly
from the materials of the old garrison house. From a

viii Illustrations

drawing in Whitefield's Homes of our Forefathers in
Rhode Island, 1882.

Portrait of William Coddington 48

From original portrait in Court House at Newport.

Signature of Roger Williams 52

As President of the Colony, November 2, 1654. From
the original document in the Moses Brown Papers, vol.
18, p. 67, in the Rhode Island Historical Society.

Title-page of Samuel Gorton's "Simplicities

Defence against Seven-Headed Policy" 60

From the original in the library of the Rhode Island
Historical Society.

Document of 1669 74

Signed by William Carpenter, William Harris, Thomas
Olney, Jr., Thomas Harris, Thomas Olney, Sr., and John
Whipple. From the original in Moses Brown Papers, vol.
18, p. 69, in Rhode Island Historical Society.

Petition drawn by William Harris, September

17, 1677, directed to Gov. Josiah Winslow 84

From original in Harris Papers, p. 91, in Rhode Island
Historical Society.

"Mark" of King Philip 96

Aihxed to a deed of 1659. From original in Rhode
Island Historical Society.

The Roger Mowry Tavern iio

Later the Whipple House, on Abbott Street, torn down
in 1900. From a wood-cut made about i860.

Joseph Williams House 142

Built by the son of Roger Williams, Formerly stood on
Elmwood Avenue and was torn down in 1886. From a
water-color drawing made in 1858 by Edward L. Peck-
ham, in the Rhode Island Historical Society.

Illustrations ix

John Crawford House 152

Mill Street. Built about 1710, torn down 1898. From
a photograph in the Rhode Island Historical Society
taken in 1865.

Peter Randall House 15^

Opposite the North Burying Ground. Built about 1755.
From a photograph taken in 1902.

Relics which belonged to Gabriel Bernon 160

From an old painting in the Rhode Island Historical
Society. The original relics — the sword, delft jar, gold
rattle, and psalter — are now owned by the Society.

St. John's Church 164

Built 1722 and demolished 1810. From a drawing, made
by Zachariah Allen, in the Rhode Island Historical
Society Library.

Oath of Samuel Winsor, 1713 168

Regarding card-playing by William Turpin and Edward
Hawkins. From the original document in the Moses
Brown Papers, vol. 18, p. 69, in the Rhode Island His-
torical Society.

Title-page of Rev. John Checkley's "Modest

Proof," Boston, 1723. 170

From a copy in the Rhode Island Historical Society.

Letter from Rev. James McSparran to Gabriel

Bernon, July 2, 1721 184

From original document in Bernon Papers, in the Rhode
Island Historical Society.

First Congregational Meeting House 192

Corner Benefit and College Streets, built 1723, used as
the Town House and as a police court after 1795, and de-

X Illustrations

molished i860. From a water-color sketch by Edward L.
Peckham, made in i860, in the Rhode Island Historical
Society.

Map of Rhode Island 206

Surveyed by James Helme and William Chandler, 1741,
from the manuscript map in the Rhode Island Historical
Society. The portion reproduced shows Providence
County.

Stephen Hopkins House 210

Built about 1742, moved up Hopkins Lane from its
former location on the Main Street in 1804. From a
photograph by Willis A. Dean, 1911.

Old State House 212

North Main Street, built 1760. From a photograph
taken in 191 1.

Letter of "Directions" from James Brown to his

Wife, August 23, 1737 234

From the Moses Brown Papers, vol. I, p. 3, in the Rhode
Island Historical Society.

Sign of "The Bunch of Grapes " 240

One of the most famous of the early commercial signs of
Providence, and dating from about 1760. Now in the
museum of the Rhode Island Historical Society.

Portrait of Moses Brown 258

Reproduced from an engraving after a drawing by
William J. Harris.

Scene in a Public House in Surinam, about

1769 268

After a painting by John Greenwood, reproduced in
Field's Esek Hopkins. The two figures on the further
side of the round table are Nicholas Cooke, later gov-

Illustrations xi

ernor of the colony, smoking a long pipe and engaged In
conversation with Esek Hopkins.

Deputy-Governor Elisha Brown House 280

North Main Street, north of Olney Street. Built about
1759, the first brick house in the compact part of the
town of Providence. From a photograph taken in 1865,
now in the Rhode Island Historical Society.

Broadside Lampoon 282

Issued by the Hopkins party in 1763 against Samuel
Ward and Gideon Wanton. From a copy of the broad-
side in the Rhode Island Historical Society. Reduced to
about half size.

Discourse on the Repeal of the Stamp Act,

1766. 300

By Rev. David S. Rowland. From copy In the Rhode
Island Historical Society.

Announcement of Installation of New Organ at

King's Church, 1771 304

From the original broadside in the John Carter Brown
Library.

Playing-Card Invitation 312

From John Brown for a dance at his new house, 1788.
From original in John Carter Brown Library.

The First Issue of the Providence Gazette 314

Established by William Goddard in 1762. From copy In
the Rhode Island Historical Society.

Portrait of William Goddard 316

From a reproduction of the original portrait owned by
the late Col. William Goddard.

xii Illustrations

Shakespeare's Head (now 21 Meeting Street) 320

The printing office, post-office and residence of John
Carter, where the Providence Gazette was printed after
1772. The house beyond is the Updike House. From a
photograph, taken in 191 1, by Willis A. Dean.

Portrait of James Manning, President of Brown

University 336

From an early engraving.

Diploma from Rhode Island College (now Brown

University) 1789 342

Signed by James Manning, David Howell, Perez Fobes,
and Benjamin West. From original document in the
Brown University Library.

Old view of the First College Building and the

President's House, erected 1770 352

From an early engraving, made by S. Hill after a draw-
ing by D. Leonard.

View of the First Congregational Church 358

Corner of Benefit and Benevolent Streets, erected 1795,
destroyed by fire, 1814. From an old engraving by
William Hamlin.

View of the First Baptist Meeting-House,

ERECTED 1775 360

From an engraving first printed in the Massachusetts
Magazine for August, 1789, and engraved by S. Hill.

John Brown House, Power Street 366

Now owned by Marsden J. Perry. Erected 1786, and
referred to by John Quincy Adams in 1789 as "the most
magnificent and elegant private mansion that I have
ever seen on this continent." From a photograph, 191 1,
by Willis A. Dean.

Illustrations xiii

Joseph Nightingale House 370

Benefit Street, erected by Joseph Nightingale about
1791. It was sold in 1814 to Nicholas Brown and for
many years was the home of the John Carter Brown
Library — the finest existing collection of books relating
to the early history of America. From a photograph
taken in 1902.

Sullivan Dorr House 372

Corner of Benefit and Bowen Streets, built early in the
last century and designed by John H. Greene. It was
long the residence of Thomas W, Dorr, whose efforts to
reform the suffrage in Rhode Island brought about the
Dorr War. From a photograph taken about 1870.

The Arcade 374

Built 1827-28; for many years after its construction
one of the chief objects of interest to visitors. From an
old lithograph in the Rhode Island Historical Society.

Introduction

GERTRUDE SELWYN KIMBALL, the
writer of this book, was born on January 29,
1863, at Blackstone, Massachusetts, the
child of Henry Clay Kimball and Elizabeth Fair-
brother Farnum his wife. Both parents were of the
old New England stock, the father an intelligent man-
ufacturer, of Rhode Island descent, the mother a re-
fined and studious woman, partly of Quaker origin,
versed in French and Italian literature to a degree
unusual in Massachusetts villages in that day. The
mother died early. The daughter's education was in
her earlier years obtained at the hands of a devoted
aunt. An elder brother, student in Amherst College,
was her mentor during early girlhood. Later she
attended excellent private schools in Providence,
and before many years the family removed to that
city, the natural metropolis of the Blackstone Val-
ley. In Providence she always afterward resided,
and with it she may be said to have had a lifelong
familiarity.

Natural quickness and clearness of apprehension
gave every educational opportunity full chance to
fructify, and her eager mind reached out into many
fields of reading not then the ordinary province of
attractive young ladies who enjoyed life and society
in full measure. To one who first met her when she

xvi Introduction

must have been about twenty-seven, there still re-
mains a vivid remembrance of the astonishment
with which at that first meeting he heard this beauti-
ful girl debate, with light wit but with extraordinary
acuteness and good sense, the movements then cur-
rent in political economy. Collegiate education for
young women was still a novelty at the time when
Miss Kimball would naturally have sought it, but
she did much of her reading under the guidance of
the Society for the Encouragement of Study at
Home.

Soon after the doors of Brown University were
first opened to women, Miss Kimball entered some
of its classes, more especially those in history, and at
various times, indeed for five academic years in the
period from 1894 to 1901, she was enrolled as one of
its special students, never seeking a degree, but al-
ways pursuing with eager intelligence and singular
skill the subjects of her choice. Her fitness to pursue
graduate courses was so soon demonstrated that
most of her academic work lay in them. All was
done with fine precision but without pedantry, in the
best spirit of the amateur who loves learning for its
own sake yet appreciates that its choicest pleasures
are not to be had through the methods of the mere
dilettante, but by adding to the amateur's breadth
and sense of proportion the care and exactness of
the professional scholar.

This spirit was not changed when, by reason of her

Introduction xvii

father's death, Miss Kimball began within the period
mentioned to use her rich acquirements and her gifts
of expression for other purposes than those of her
own pleasure and cultivation. As a teacher for a
dozen years in the chief private school for girls in
Providence, and for a less time in another, she made
her instruction vivid and brilliant, laying her treas-
ures of historical and literary knowledge before
young minds with an adaptive skill born of the ama-
teur's good sense, of keen insight into youthful char-
acter, of catholic intellectual sympathies, of a genial
sense of humor and a kind heart. It was a matter
of course that susceptible girls should be impressed
by her beauty, her charm, and her cleverness, but
they also found in her a helpful and appreciative
friend. Her views of history were just and sane.
Her inherited interest in business and her studies in
economic and political science enabled her to widen
the cloistered minds of well-to-do girls by large
glimpses of the masculine view of public affairs. Her
methods of teaching were both sound and ingenious.
Her remarkable memory permitted her to make her
teaching free and informal, her wit made it lively
and mordant.

An ambition to take part in the work of pro-
ductive scholarship developed out of the university
courses which have been mentioned. To the editor
of the American Historical Review, conducted in
Providence in its earlier years, she rendered valuable

xviii Introduction

services, and helped signally and often in the work
of the Historical Manuscripts Commission estab-
lished in those days by the American Historical As-
sociation. A "seminary" paper developed into her
first independent publication, a brief but solid and
entertaining monograph on The East India Trade
of Providence from lySy to iSoy, read before the
Rhode Island Historical Society and published at
Providence in 1 896. Next came a volume of Pictures
of Rhode Island in the Past, 1642-18^^, published at
Providence in 1899, in which Miss Kimball printed
a series of interesting descriptions of Rhode Island
by travellers who visited it in the seventeenth, the
eighteenth, and the early nineteenth centuries.

A *' seminary" inspection of the archives of the
state of Rhode Island led to a paper on those ar-
chives, read before the Society of Colonial Dames of
Rhode Island, and this in turn to the editing for that
society of The Correspondence of the Colonial Govern-
ors of Rhode Island, iy2j-i'/'/^, published at Boston
in two handsome volumes in 1902 and 1903. The
letters printed in this valuable publication were
drawn from the Rhode Island archives and other
sources, and provided with an introduction and anno-
tations so learned and skilful as to make the book an
important source for colonial history. Its prepar-
ation laid the foundation of that ripe knowledge of
Rhode Island affairs in the eighteenth century which
appears so plainly in the present book.

Introduction xix

The thoroughness, scholarship, and good taste
with which this work was executed led the National
Society of the Colonial Dames of America, in begin-
ning their useful and highly creditable series of docu-
mentary historical publications, to invite Miss Kim-
ball to edit for them their first two volumes, com-
prising The Correspondence of William Pitt, when
Secretary of State, with Colonial Governors and Mili-
tary and Naval Commissioners [Commanders] in
America (New York, 1906). The task was similar,
and was performed with the same skill. It has fur-
nished the student of the French and Indian War with
an invaluable source of knowledge respecting the
guidance, the dominating ideas, and the events of
that struggle in its most heroic years. The materials
of which it was composed are preserved in the Pub-
lic Record Office in London, and were investigated
there by Miss Kimball in the course of a year in
Europe.

The year alluded to, that of 1902-03, was spent
mostly in Rome, where Miss Kimball enjoyed both
her archaeological studies and lectures at the uni-
versity and her opportunities for acquiring a know-
ledge of Italian life and character. With the exception
of this year, and of one or two briefer visits to Eu-
rope, all her later life was spent in Providence, in
such occupations as have been indicated above. But
many of her hours were spent in Providence society,
in which she was a bright and welcome presence.

XX Introduction

Her cheerful and even gay spirits, her refined and re-
sourceful mind, her wit and tact, her extraordinary-
quickness and skill in conversation, her beauty and
grace and obvious distinction, but above all her
humane feeling and friendly kindness, made her a
constant source of social pleasure. She, on the other
hand, enjoyed and appreciated Providence. She
knew its foibles. She knew that one could not found
a town in extreme individualism in the seventeenth
century, nourish it by commerce in the eighteenth
and by manufactures in the nineteenth, and then ex-
pect it to show in the twentieth no traces of " other-
wisemindedness," no regard for mundane maxims,
no tendency to prefer individual solvency above so-
cial reform. But, as the reader of this book will
easily see, she looked with a gentle smile upon the
imperfections and peculiarities of the quaint colonial
town and vigorous modern city she knew so well,
and wrote of its development con amore.

In this city of her affection, on the twentieth day
of June, 1910, Miss Kimball came suddenly and pre-
maturely, but with characteristic bravery, to the end
of her bright and vivid life, leaving to many hearts
the poignant remembrance of exceptional accom-
plishments and charm, and of not less exceptional
force of character, sympathy, and human kindness.

Rose Aylmer, all were thine!
During the closing months of her life, she had been

Introduction xxi

much occupied with a portrayal of the history of
Providence. At her death, it was found that the chap-
ters running to the outbreak of the Revolutionary
War had been quite finished and were ready for pub-
lication. In tribute to her memory these chapters,
having a unity of their own as presenting the story of
Providence in Colonial Times, are now published.
For later chapters many notes had been taken,
but nothing had been written save a fragmentary
chapter on Providence Houses of the period im-
mediately after the Revolution. This fragmentary
chapter is appended.

J. Franklin Jameson,

PROVIDENCE IN COLONIAL TIMES

PROVIDENCE

IN Colonial Times

Chapter I

THE PLANTER AND HIS PLANTATION

IN the reign of King James the First of England
the celebrated jurist and statesman Sir Edward
Coke, while presiding one day in the Court of
Star Chamber, found his attention attracted by a
bright-faced boy of some fourteen years.

The lad was diligently employed in taking down
in shorthand the sermons and speeches delivered
before that august assembly of learned judges and
lords. His industry, modest bearing, and winning
personality induced the great man to make inquiries
as to his lineage and prospects. Thereby he learned
that the boy's name was Roger Williams. His father
was a well-to-do merchant tailor of the City of Lon-
don, while his mother could boast a connection with
the Pemberton family, and it is not in the least im-
probable that to this family influence young Roger
owed his employment within the precincts of the Star
Chamber. It was by no means an ill wind that led
Sir Edward Coke to interest himself in the little short-
hand scribe. He placed the boy in the Charterhouse

4 "Providence in Colonial Times

School, and later made it possible for him to enter
Pembroke College at Cambridge, where he took his
degree in 1626.

These early years of the seventeenth century were
stirring times throughout England, and especially
for London, the centre of the political and commer-
cial life of the nation. The London of the seventeenth
century was fiercely Protestant, and this protesting
spirit fostered and upheld the right of free thought
and free doctrine, as against the force of authority.

That the young student at Cambridge was conver-
sant with the great questions of his time cannot admit
of doubt. His university was a centre for liberal opin-
ions, and he himself was ever an eager student and
questioner of "things unseen." We have no positive
knowledge of his career after leaving the university,
until the year 1629. In that year Laud became Bishop
of London, and immediately the people of his great
diocese, nine tenths of whom, if not Puritan, were
strongly Protestant, saw with rage and indignation
the forcible introduction into their religious service
of forms and ceremonies most offensive to their Puri-
tan feelings. They saw their honored clergy expelled
from their pulpits, and they watched with horror and
fear the encroachments of that ritual, which, in their
eyes, led nowhere but to Rome and perdition. In
1629, the great emigration to America began. Men
and women of every station and every calling crowded
to the ships. For one and all, the man of rank and

Vlanter and Plantation 5

property, the farmer, and the tradesman, the vital
issue was his religious creed. In 1630, alone, seven-
teen hundred souls crossed the bleak Atlantic to the
wilderness.

And it is in this critical year of 1629, when Eng-
land is seething with excitement and the strife of
many tongues is raging, that we again catch sight of
the future pioneer of religious liberty in America.
" Far from the madding crowd," he is living at the
country-seat of Sir William Masham, of Otes, Essex,
in the capacity of chaplain, and, like many another
young man in a similar position, he has fallen in love
with a certain fair virgin of the house, who appears
to have been a cousin of the Lady Masham. The
young lover is moved to consult her guardian and
aunt. Lady Barrington. This stately duenna was
likewise aunt to no less a personage than the great
Oliver, the future Lord Protector of England, whose
path was to cross that of the young chaplain at more
than one auspicious moment, in the years to come.
To her, in the spring of 1629, there came the follow-
ing frank confession : —

Dear and honoured Madame,

Many and often speeches have long fluttered or
flowne abroad concerning your Ladiships neere kins-
woman and my unworthy selfe. ... I acknowledge
my selfe altogeather unworthy unmeete for such a
proposition. The neereness of her blood to your Ladi-
ship & godly flourishing branches hath forc't me to
confesse her Portion, in that regard, to be beyond com-

6 "Providence in Colonial Times

pare invaluable. Yet many feares have much possest
me Longe. I have to discover that sincerltie and Godli-
ness which makes the Lord himselfe to like his Crea-
ture. . . . Objections have come in about her spirit,
much accused for passionate& hastie, rash & unconstant.
. . . For my own part It is well knowne . . . How
a gracious God & tender conscience . . . hath kept
me back from honour and preferment Besides many
former offers & that late New England call, I have since
had 2 severall livings preferred to me each of them
100/ per annum: but as things yet stand among us I
see not how any meanes & I shall meet that way . . .
besides this meanes . . . little there is yet I can call
mine. After the death of an aged loving mother
amongst some other Children I may expect (though
for the present she be close & will not promise) some 20/,
or 20 marks per annum. At hand undisposed of I have
some 7 score pieces & a little (yet costlie) studie of
bookes. ... I shall add for the present I know none
in the world I more affect & (had the Lord been pleased
to say amen in those other regards) should doubtles
have fully answered (if not exceeded) her affection.

But I have learned another Lesson to still my soule
as a weaned childe & give offence to none. . . .

This conscientious, rather than impassioned, out-
pouring was succeeded shortly by the following
expression of somewhat conscious rectitude, and
Christian resignation:

Madame :

... I doubt not but your good wisdome & love have
fairely interpreted my carriage in the late treatie, I allso
trust, quieted & still'd the loving affections of your
worthy niece. We hope to live togeather in the heavens
though the Lord have denied that union on Earth.

Tlanter and Tlantation

So closed another "romance of a poor youngman."
There may well be truth in the tradition that Roger
Williams studied law immediately after leaving the
university, as there can be no doubt that for a youth
of his ability, backed by so powerful a patron as Sir
Edward Coke, the profession of law gave ample as-
surance of a successful and honorable career. Indeed
— so the tradition runs — his legal studies were act-
ually begun, but his true interest and enthusiasm led
him in another direction. "From my childhood,"
he says, "the father of lights and mercies touched my
soul with a love for himself." His marked ability,
backed, it may be, by a bit of family interest, opened
before him the path of clerical preferment, as is
shown by his own statement in his letter to Lady
Barrington. Conscientious scruples, however, kept
him from accepting the forms, ceremonies, and doc-
trines which made up the unifying system of the An-
glican Church as applied by the Bishop of London.
He "durst not join with them in their use of Com-
mon Prayer." "God knows," he writes at a later
time, "what gains and preferments I have refused in
universities, city, country, and court in Old England
and something in New England ... to keep my
soul undefiled in this point not to act with a doubt-
ing conscience." Few details remain to us of those
years of heart-searching. Whether or not Roger had
the sympathy of his family is an open question. It is
probable, however, that his father, a London trades-

8 "Providence in Colonial Times

man of that class most affected by the new ideas,
would appreciate and honor his son's position.

The ''aged mother," who in 1629 was "close,
and would not promise " respecting her son's worldly
prospects, died in 1634, leaving behind her a credit-
able stock of this world's goods. Roger's share was
not munificent, and by no means fulfilled his expect-
ations. "To my son, Roger Williams, now beyond
the seas," was left "ten pounds yearly to be paid unto
him ... for and during the term of twenty years."

At the time of his mother's death, in 1634, her son
Roger had been "beyond the seas" for full four years.
More than a year and a half had passed since his ex-
pression of resignation and of the hope of heavenly
joys was sent to Lady Barrington, when, on Decem-
ber I, 1630, he took ship at Bristol for America; and
with him went Mary, his wife. All that has been
learned respecting the woman who shared Roger
Williams's life of privation and struggle for more
than forty-five years is that her maiden name was
Mary Barnard. Her family, her English home, and
the incidents of her first acquaintance with her hus-
band, are alike unknown.

Roger Williams himself refers to the unifying zeal
of Laud as the immediate cause of his departure. "It
was as bitter as death to me," he wrote to the daughter
of his patron. Sir Edward Coke, "when Bishop Laud
pursued me out of this land, and my conscience was
persuaded against the national Church, and cere-

"Planter and Plantation 9

monies, and bishops, beyond the conscience of your
dear father."

When the good ship Lyon entered the port of Sa-
lem, early in February, 1631, after a tempestuous
voyage of some sixty-five days, Roger Williams and
Mary, his wife, received an honorable welcome.
Williams was himself known personally to some influ-
ential members of the little settlement, and by reput-
ation to many of them. His arrival was commented
on as that of a "godly minister," and he was at once
invited to fill the place of teacher to the church in
Boston, in the absence of John Wilson, who was about
to sail for England by the Lyoriy on her return voyage.
This offer was refused by the young preacher, on the
ground that the Boston church had not formally
withdrawn from the communion of the Church of
England, and that his conscience would not permit
him to countenance the manifold errors of that insti-
tution by ministering to one of its members. And
this was but the initial step in a long career of theo-
logical knight-errantry. The young and ardent en-
thusiast levelled his gospel-spear at each and every
error in theory or practice of which — judged by his
standards — the Puritan theocracy of Massachusetts
stood convicted. Conformity was the monster he
had fled from England to avoid, and it was with un-
bounded amazement and indignation that he saw re-
vealed in New England a uniformity as unyielding
and all-embracing as that of Laud.

I o Trovidence in Colonial Times

His few months of residence in Salem, in the spring
and summer of 163 1, were enlivened by his emphatic
assertion that the civil magistrate had no moral right
to punish infractions of the First Table of the Deca-
logue (namely, the first four of the Ten Command-
ments) ; and also by his persistent reiteration of the
contention that, by not formally separating from the
Church of England, the churches of New England
were conniving at error, and compromising with Anti-
Christ. Before the summer was ended, he had re-
moved to Plymouth, where the theological atmo-
sphere was a trifle less bleak; and there for two years
he abode as teacher, diversifying his ministrations to
the Pilgrim Fathers by a brisk discussion of the theme
that *' Christian Kings (so-called) are invested with
a right, by virtue of their Christianity, to take and
give away the lands and countries of other men."
This proposition, as interpreted by Williams, led to a
denial of the validity of the royal land grants, and
the assertion that an equitable title to the land could
only be obtained from its rightful owners, the Indians.

These years are also memorable, in the record of
Roger Williams's experiences, for his missionary work
among the Indians. "God was pleased to give me,"
he tells us, "a painful patient spirit to lodge with
them in their filthy smoke-holes ... to gain their
tongue," and he ''dug into their barbarous rockie
speech " to such good purpose that we are told by a
Massachusetts writer of 1634 that he "hath spent

Roger Williams House at Salem

From a drawing in Edwin Whitefield's Homes of our
Forefathers in Massachusetts, 1880,

^Planter and ^Plantation 1 1

much time in attaining to their language wherein he
is so good a proficient that he can speak to their un-
derstanding, and they to his; much loving and re-
specting him for his love and counsell." This friend-
ship stood him in good stead, for by its aid he was
able — when driven from his home by the fury of the
long-gathering storm — to obtain from Canonicus,
"the old high Sachem of the Narragansett Bay," and
his nephew and heir, Miantonomi, a grant of land be-
yond the bounds of the Massachusetts patent.

In 1633, Roger Williams found himself once more
in Salem, installed there as assistant to Mr. Skelton
of the church of that town. He left behind him in
Plymouth the reputation of "a man godly and zeal-
ous, having many precious parts, but very unsettled
in judgement . . . he is to be pitied, and prayed for,
and so I shall . . . desire the Lord to shew him his
errors, and reduce him in the way of truth, and give
him a settled judgement and constancy in the same."
The words are those of Governor Bradford. Skelton
died during the year, and Williams was invited to be-
come teacher (or expounder of doctrine) of the church,
in his place. The arena was now clear, and the an-
tagonists on both sides were eager for the chance to
combat error with the invincible arm of truth. Issue
was first taken at the practice of the clergy of the
neighborhood in holding regular meetings, as tend-
ing to establish a " superintendency to the prejudice
of the church's liberties." The question of the land

1 2 T^rovidence in Colonial Times

patents was again brought forward. Once more
Williams maintained that "all men may walk as
their consciences persuade them, every one in the
name of his God." Carrying out this line of thought,
he at length contended that no unregenerate person
should have an oath administered to him, since an
oath was an act of worship, and "persons may as
well be forced unto any part of the worship of God
as unto this."

Mere considerations of expediency, of a time to
speak, and a time to keep silent, were for Roger
Williams as if non-existent. Having hitched his wa-
gon to the star of truth, he followed his beacon-light
with that uncompromising zeal and sublime disre-
gard of mere material obstacles which so often char-
acterizes the reformer. But for the magistrates of
the Bay Colony the matter was not one to be ap-
proached from a purely theoretical, or even theolog-
ical, point of view, although on either of these indict-
ments they would have found plenty of matter for
condemnation in Williams's course of action. Mr.
Richman has shown his fairness and discrimination
in pointing out that, at the moment when Williams
renewed his attack on the royal patent, the magis-
trates were deeply concerned over news from Eng-
land to the effect that the King was considering the
feasibility of sending out a general governor for the
colonies, and recalling their patents, — and the re-
call of the patent meant the loss of all the Puritan

Vlanter and Plantation 1 3

colony held dear. When Roger Williams was fulmin-
ating against the administration of oaths, these same
perplexed magistrates were administering a special
oath for the purpose of testing the loyalty of the free-
men to the theocracy which had been set up.

The final break, however, came in this wise: the
town of Salem petitioned the General Court of the
colony with respect to a land claim. The petition
came up for consideration, in due course, and was re-
fused on the ground that the Salem church **had
chosen Mr. Williams their teacher while he had stood
under question of authority, and offered contempt
to the magistrates." The church in Salem appealed
in vain to the other churches of the Bay Colony;
whereupon Williams called on it to withdraw from
the others, and when the church refused to take this
extreme step, he himself promptly withdrew from
that and all of the Bay communions. He even car-
ried his zeal so far as to refuse to pray with his wife,
or to ask a blessing on the table at which she sat,
because she had refused to withdraw from the church
communion. It is small wonder that to the "lords
brethren" of the Bay, Roger Williams appeared
an incorrigible offender. To them he was obstinate,
wrongheaded, and purposely persistent in the effort
to disturb all law and order. To their minds even to
the third generation, he figured as the prototype of
disaffection. Sixty years later. Cotton Mather wrote
of him: *Tn the year 1654 a certain wind-mill in the

1 4 "Providence in Colonial Times

Low Countries, whirling around with extraordinary
violence by reason of a violent storm then blowing,
the stone at length by its rapid motion became so in-
tensely hot as to fire the mill, from whence the flames
being dispersed by the high winds, did set a whole
town on fire. But I can tell my reader that above
twenty years before this there was a whole country
in America like to be set on fire by the rapid motion
of a wind-mill in the head of one particular man."

The matter was brought to a close on October 9,
1635, when the General Court sentenced Williams
"to depart out of our jurisdiction within six weeks."
An illness, and the near approach of winter, led to
a commutation of the sentence, so far as to permit
Williams to stay in Salem until spring. Whatever his
plans for the future may have been, it is extremely
doubtful if he ever intended " to erect a plantation
about the Narragansett Bay." His own statement is
that he sought a refuge among the Indians "to do
them good," and that he " desired to be without Eng-
lish company." In the mean time he improved the
opportunity "to do good" to the good people of
Salem with such diligence that many "were taken
with an apprehension of his godliness," and the mat-
ter was brought to the attention of the General Court.
This formidable body came promptly to the conclu-
sion that the time for parleying was past, and forth-
with summoned the offender to appear before them,
in Boston. Even before the citation was brought to

Planter and Plantation 1 5

Salem, news had reached WilHams of a plan to send
him to England. A few hurried preparations were
made, and with his servant, Thomas Angell, the in-
trepid pioneer took his way through the January
snows and frosts to his friends, the Narraganset In-
dians. " I was sorely tossed," he says, '' for one four-
teen weeks, in a bitter winter season, not knowing
what bread or bed did mean, beside the yearly loss of
no small matter in my trading with the English and
natives, being debarred from Boston, the chief mart
and port of New England."

His departure was resolved upon none too quickly.
Three days later, the doughty Captain John Under-
bill arrived in Salem Harbor with a warrant from the
General Court for the apprehension of Roger Will-
iams. Once on board the little vessel, only awaiting
the arrival of her passenger before spreading her
white wings to take flight for the other side of the At-
lantic, it would have been many a long day before
the troublesome schismatic could again disturb the
established order of the Lord's anointed. His ban-
ishment not only put Salem " in an uproar," where
"he was esteemed an honest, disinterested man, and
of popular talents in the pulpit"; but even in Eng-
land, those interested in the colony's welfare deplored
his loss. Sir William Martin wrote to Governor Win-
throp : " I am sorry to hear of Mr. Williams's separ-
ation from you. ... I pray show him what lawful
favor you can, which may stand with the common

1 6 "Providence in Colonial Times

good. He is passionate and precipitate, which may
transport him into error, but I hope his integrity and
good intentions will bring him at last into the way of
truth, and confirm him therein."

From Roger Williams's own pen we have a graphic,
if all too meagre, account of his wanderings, and his
hopes and fears for the future. He says: "When I
was unkindly and unchristianly, as I believe, driven
from my house, and land and wife and children, in
the midst of a New England winter, ... at Salem
... I steered my course . . . though in winter
snow, which I feel yet, unto these parts. . . . It is not
true that I was employed by any, made covenant
with any, or desired any to come with me. . . . My
soul's desire was to do the natives good, and to that
end have their language . . . and therefore desired
not to be troubled with English company, yet out of
Pity, I gave leave to W. Harris, then poor and desti-
tute, to come along in my company, I consented to
John Smith, Miller, at Dorchester (banished also) to
go with me, and at John Smith's desire, to a poor
young fellow, Francis Wicks, as also to a lad of Rich-
ard Watermans." To these must be added the name
of Joshua Verin, making six in all.

"I first pitched and began to build and plant at
Seekonk, now Rehoboth [Massachusetts]; but I re-
ceived a letter from my ancient friend Mr. Winslow,
then Governor of Plymouth, professing his own and
others' love and respect to me, yet lovingly advising

Compass and Sun-dial

Owned by Roger Williams and presumably used by him
on his journey into exile in 1635. Its line of descent has
been traced from Roger Williams to its present custodian,
the Rhode Island Historical Society.

, > liiboJadS'ili'^sfesTq ^nVat arrf eiMr/rTj^cJA moil Lsoki J daad

V/<i 1^ i,.,>.

"Planter and Plantation 1 7

me, since I was fallen into the edge of their bounds
[namely, those of the Plymouth Colony], and they
were loth to displease the Bay [Colony], to remove
to the other side of the water, and then he said I had
the country free before me, and might be as free as
themselves, and we should be loving neighbors to-
gether."

It was, accordingly, from the Seekonk shore that
the little canoe bearing Roger Williams and his com-
panions pushed out into the wide stream, and crossed
to " Mooshassuc," — the name given by the Indians
to the peninsula between the Seekonk and Moshas-
suc Rivers, whereon a goodly portion of the city of
Providence now stands. The friendly hail of the In-
dians, "Whatcheer, Netop!" came (so tradition tells
us) from Slate Rock, which the venerable Moses
Brown, writing in 1828, describes as "jutting out into
the river." The so-called Slate Rock of the present
generation has long been high above tide-water, and
now lies buried under the earth recently filled in to
form Roger Williams Square. Having closed the in-
terview with the Indians, and thereby unconsciously
provided a title for every species of public and
private enterprise in which their descendants might
choose to engage, from Whatcheer Insurance Com-
panies to the manufacture of Whatcheer Laundry
Soap, the little company of pioneers held cheerfully
on their way. T^ey rounded the hill at the southern
end of the peninsula, — now levelled and known as

1 8 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

Fox Point, — and after paddling a short distance up
the stream of the Moshassuc, landed at a point where
a clear bubbling spring discharged its waters into
those of the "Great Salt River."

Such is the ancient and honorable tradition of the
founding of Providence, dating from a time when the
memory of man runneth not to the contrary. We are
also told that the pioneers, on landing, were hospit-
ably invited to dine with the natives "on succotash
and boiled bass, then cooking over the fire." As late
as 1801, "there was a living stream constantly flow-
ing from a large boiling spring, curbed and covered
with stones, and overflowing into a trough for con-
ducting the water into a tub formed of a half-hogs-
head set in the ground conveniently for cattle to drink
therefrom. Thence the water continued its course
to the river adjacent; so that in passing the outlet in
a boat the stream was manifest. . . ." This descrip-
tion was written in 1880, at the age of eighty-five, by
the Honorable Zachariah Allen, one of Providence's
most honored citizens, whose father's residence was
within one hundred yards of the spring in question.

Roger Williams had already established with the
Indians that friendship and influence which placed
the little plantation on a footing of security and per-
manence. While he lived in Salem and Plymouth,
he " spared no cost towards them ... in Gifts, to-
kens and presents . . . and therefore when I came I
was welcome to . . . Canonicus, who was most shy

Picture of Slate Rock and Seekonk River

From a water-color sketch painted by Edward L. Peck-
ham in 1832, now in the Rhode Island Historical Society.

■ iioJisiH 1

^Planter and Plantation 1 9

of all English to his last breath." Lands on the Mo-
shassucand Wanasquatucket Rivers were readily ob-
tained from the Narraganset sachems. The deed of
conveyance, signed by them two years later, on March
24, 1638, recites that " in consideration of many kind-
nesses and services he [Roger Williams] hath continu-
ally done for us ... we do freely give him all the
land from those rivers, reaching to Pawtuxet river;
as also the Grass and meadows upon the said Paw-
tuxet river." This last-mentioned tract was an addi-
tion to the original grant.

The lands thus designated comprised a territory of
about four square miles. It included the peninsula
formed by the Seekonk and Moshassuc Rivers,
whereon the East Side of the present city stands, as
far north as "the Rivers and Fields of Pautucket."
The Seekonk lies to the east, and the Moshassuc to
the west, of this peninsula, and both empty into Provi-
dence Harbor at a distance from each other of about
a mile. To the west of the Moshassuc is the Wanas-
quatucket, which flows south and east into the cove
above the harbor. The swift current of these two
streams, as they met in the shallow cove, had eaten
away the soft soil of the western shore, and formed a
large tract of marshland on that side of the river.
Some five miles to the south of Providence, the Paw-
tuxet, after a course of some twenty-five or thirty
miles, flows northeast into Narragansett Bay. The
western limit of the original township was marked by

2 0 Trovidence in Colonial Times

the so-called Four Mile Line, running down from
Neutakonkanut Hill, a short distance south of the
Wanasquatucket River, to the point where the Pa-
chaset, or Pocasset, River enters the Pawtuxet, about
three miles from its mouth.

It would seem as if the presence of the freshwater
spring must have been the ruling consideration in the
selection of a spot "to build and plant." The land in
the vicinity was not fertile, and the topography was
poorly adapted for farming. For some two miles
along the east bank of the Moshassuc a line of bluffs
rose to an elevation of about two hundred feet, leav-
ing but a narrow margin between the hillside and
the water's edge. From the top of this bluff the land
sloped gently eastward across the peninsula, to the
Seekonk, about a mile away. On the west of the Mo-
shassuc, on Weybosset Neck, the high tide overflowed
large tracts of marshland, dotted here and there with
little islands on which the rank marsh-grass grew.
Beyond was a rolling country with a sandy soil,
whose low hills were covered with pines.

Roger Williams was at all times an Indian trader,
as well as an Indian missionary, and doubtless the
ease with which his new station at the juncture of
three rivers could be reached, no less than its "free-
dom and vacancy," commended the place to him.
The plantation was also rendered easy of access from
the fact that it lay directly on the great Indian thor-
oughfare known as the " Pequod Path," which was to

"Planter and Vlantation 2 1

serve the colonists as the main highway of travel and
communication for many a long year to come, and is
still known to their descendants as the " Shore-Line
Railroad." Crossing the Seekonk about a mile above
its mouth, the trail led westward to the Moshassuc,
forded that river, and then struck south to Wick-
ford, the "Cawcawmsqussick" of Roger Williams. It
skirted the heights above the Pettiquamscutt River,
some three miles inland from the west shore of Narra-
gansett Bay, to Sugar Loaf Hill ; there it bore to the
southwest, and led to Pawcatuck, the headquarters
of the sachem Ninigret, and the present city of Wes-
terly. Doubtless Roger Williams spoke the literal
truth when he asserted that Canonicus "was not to
be stirred with money to sell his Lands to let in for-
eigners. Tis true he received presents and gratuities
many of me, but, . . . Thousands could not have
bought of him Providence or Pawtuxet ... or any
other land I had of him." Nor could thousands have
secured that "loving and peaceable neighborhood
with them all," which exempted the Providence Plan-
tation from Indian raids, — the most constant and
terrible danger that threatened the colonial pioneer.
The summer of 1636 saw the little conmiunity set-
tled into a routine of everyday life. "Having in a
sense of God's mercifuU providence unto me in my
distresse called the place Providence, I desired it
might be for a shelter for persons distressed of con-
science," declared its founder. "We have no Patent,"

2 2 Trovidence in Colonial Times

he writes to his friend Winthrop, probably in August
or September of that year, "nor doth the face of Ma-
gistracy suit with our present condition. Hitherto, the
masters of famiHes have ordinarily met once a fort-
night and consulted about our common peace, watch,
and with mutual consent have finished all matters
with speed and peace."

Soon, however, others, "some young men, single
persons," of whom there was "much need," came to
the new plantation, and very naturally their enthu-
siasm for mission work among the Indians, and for
sheltering those "distressed of conscience," speedily
became subordinate to the desire to reap where they
had sown, to gather into barns, and to own the lands
which they had painfully cleared. This contingent
among the settlers found in William Harris, who had
crossed the Seekonk "poor and destitute," a leader
ready to their hand. He it was who, " pretending Re-
ligion, wearied me with desires," writes Roger Wil-
liams, "that I should admit him and others into fel-
lowship of my purchase. I yielded and agreed that
the place should be for such as were destitute (espe-
cially for Conscience Sake)." It was in accordance
with this resolution that, in October, 1638, Williams
executed to twelve persons, including William Harris,
a conveyance of the land received from the sachems,
"unto my loving friends and neighbors, . . . and
such others as the major part of us shall admit into
the same fellowship of vote with us." Each of these

Planter and Vlantation 2 3

twelve "first-comers" paid thirty shillings "towards
a town stock," and it was further agreed that Roger
Williams should have thirty pounds as a " loving con-
sideration and gratuitye" for his "great charge and
travell" in the matter. Of this he received ";^28 in
broken parcels in five years."

The land being conveyed to the " fellowship," it
was parcelled out to the original grantees and those
whom they voted to admit to the body of "proprie-
tors," fifty-two in all. The later settlers received as
proprietors also paid thirty shillings, which "went to
a town and public use." A road, or "Street," was
laid out for about two miles along the east shore of
the Moshassuc, the Great Salt River. The land abut-
ting on this future thoroughfare (the present North
and South Main Streets) was then laid out in fifty-
two long narrow lots, called home lots, or house lots,
of approximately five acres each. These ran back to
the present Hope Street, then and long afterward
known as "the highway," or "the highway at the
head of the lots." Each proprietor had also, in addi-
tion to his home lot, a six-acre lot for planting. This
might be either on the east side of "the Neck" — as
the peninsula between the Moshassuc and the See-
konk was called — or to the west of the Great Salt
River. Lots of varying size were also apportioned
from the "lands and meddowes onWaubossettSide,"
west of the Moshassuc River. To the south of these
lots, or farms, lay the meadows along the Pawtuxet

2 4 "Providence in Colonial Times

and Pachaset Rivers known as the "Pawtuxet Pur-
chase." The division was made with the apparent
object of securing to each proprietor one hundred
acres of land of approximately equal value. Each
householder was in this way provided with a home
lot, a farm for planting, meadow or pasture land for
his cattle, and a tract or tracts of woodland. De-
signated tracts of land were held ''in common," in
accordance with the custom of every English village,
and, as in England, each man had his rights as a towns-
man to pasture and firewood from the common lands.
We may well believe that "the Streete" already
spoken of was little more than a partially cleared
pathway, along the line of which were marked at as-
signed intervals the bounds of the home lots. Soon,
however, rude yet substantial dwellings were put up
at different points along the line of the shore, and by
1640 life on the Towne Street had developed to such
an extent that civic and religious centres of common
interest began to appear. It was in that year that,
in view of *'the many differences amongst us," four
worthy townsmen were selected by their "loving
friends and neighbors" " to weigh & consider all these
differences, being desirous to bring [them] to unity
and peace," and after due deliberation they reported
that they apprehended "noway so suitable to our
Condition as government by way of arbitration."
The adjustment of differing opinions, as well as of
land dividends, was to be in the hands of five arbitra-

2 4 "Providence in Colonial Times

and Pachaset Rivers known as the "Pawtuxet Pur-
chase." The division was made with the apparent
object of securing to each proprietor one hundred
acres of land of approximately equal value. Each
householder was in this way provided with a home
lot, a farm for planting, meadow or pasture land for
his cattle, and a tract or tracts of woodland. De-
signated tracts of land were held "in common," in
accordance with the custom of every English village,
and, as in England, each man had his rights as a towns-
man to pasture and firewood from the common lands.
We may well believe that "the Streete" already
spoken of was little more than a partially cleared
pathway, along the line of which were marked at as-
signed intervals the bounds of the home lots. Soon,
however, rude yet substantial dwellings were put up
at different points along the line of the shore, and by
1640 life on the Towne Street had developed to such
an extent that civic and religious centres of common
interest began to appear. It was in that year that,
in view of "the many differences amongst us," four
worthy townsmen were selected by their "loving
friends and neighbors ""to weigh & consider all these
differences, being desirous to bring [them] to unity
and peace," and after due deliberation they reported
that they apprehended "no way so suitable to our
Condition as government by way of arbitration."
The adjustment of differing opinions, as well as of
land dividends, was to be in the hands of five arbitra-

Tlanter and Plantation 2 5

tors, or "disposers." These were to ''meete every
month-day uppon General things," and to hold of-
fice for three months. Town-meetings were to be
held "every quarter," but should a case arise admit-
ting no delay, a special meeting might be called.
"Any party delinquent" was to be apprehended by
the combined efforts of his fellow-townsmen, who
were bound to assist the cause of justice with their
"best endeavours to attack him." Toleration in re-
ligious matters was reaffirmed: "wee agree, as for-
merly hath bin the liberties of the town, so still, to
hould forth liberty of Conscience." These funda-
mental points, and certain details of the town admin-
istration, were presented by the committee, "as our
absolute determination, laying ourselves down as
subjects to it," and a list of thirty-nine signatures,
accepting this "determination," follows the closing
words.

The only common religious interest held by the
first comers was, it is hardly necessary to say, the ob-
ligation resting on each to walk in the path of truth
as his conscience should "persuade" him. Such an
obligation might, or might not, work for concord and
good-will. It certainly would not appear to be an im-
pelling force toward church organization. It so hap-
pened, however, that in 1637 a certain Mrs. Richard
Scott arrived in town. Mrs. Scott was the wife of a
Boston shoemaker, whose religious principles so far
differed from those prevalent in the Bay Colony that

2 6 "Providence in Colonial Times

he had betaken himself to the Providence Plantation,
where he was assigned a home lot, and became a well-
to-do citizen. Nor was this the only item of interest
respecting the lady's family connections. She was a
sister of the famous Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, whose
"weekly religious reviews'' had so sorely racked the
theological world of Boston but a short time before.
It is quite possible that Mrs. Scott possessed some-
thing of her sister's "active spirit" and "very voluble
tongue." At all events, she is said to have been "in-
fested with Anabaptistry and ... to have embold-
ened" no less a person than Roger Williams "to
make open profession thereof." He accordingly, so
runs the narrative, "was rebaptized by one Holy
man, a poor man late of Salem," but now (1638) a re-
spected proprietor in the town of Providence, where
he was regarded as "a man of gifts and piety."
Roger Williams, after receiving the sacrament of bap-
tism at the hands of Ezekiel Holliman, "re-baptised
him and some ten more."

It was not Mrs. Scott, however, who could claim to
be the pioneer in that field of action known to us of
the present day as the "Higher Education of Wo-
man." Even before her eloquence was exerted to elu-
cidate the "Anabaptist" point of view as to certain
perplexing theological questions, "the Devil was not
idle," — if we may quote the incisive words of Win-
throp. That estimable man proceeds to relate that
"at Providence . . . men's wives and children claim-

"Planter and Plantation 2 7

ing to go to all religious meetings, tho' never so often,
or . . . upon week days ; and because one Verin re-
fused to let his wife go to Mr. Williams so often as she
was called for, they require to have him censured.'*
And censured he was, by a formal vote of his fellow-
townsmen, at the conclusion of a spirited debate on
liberty of conscience versus the scriptural injunction
to wives, to obey their husbands. The general sense
of the community seemed to be that it was, to say the
least, inexpedient to "restrain their wives." There
is reason to think that the Joshua Verin in question
did not enjoy an unqualified reputation for discre-
tion, or for piety. He is described by Williams as "a
young man boisterous and desperate, who refused to
hear the word with us," and his treatment of his wife
was such that "she went in danger of her life." This
turbulent pioneer shortly withdrew from the Provi-
dence Plantation and returned to Salem, " clamoring
for justice."

We are told that the little group of worshippers "in
the Baptist Way" were joined by "many of the com-
pany." Roger Williams himself did not remain long
a member of the communion. The limitations of any
creed were irksome to his temperament, and also to
the severely logical bent of his intellect. " He set up a
Way of Seeking, by way of preaching and Praying,"
wrote his old neighbor, Richard Scott, many years
later. Scott, and his eloquent wife also, had joined
the Quakers, whose practice as well as their precepts

2 8 "Providence in Colonial Times

were truly an abomination in the sight of Roger Will-
iams. The versatile Mrs. Scott found good reasons
for changing her religious creed once more before her
death, but her husband held fast by the teaching of
George Fox, and died, some forty-five years later, in
the odor of Quaker sanctity.

Other, and more immediately practical, questions
than those of infant baptism and close communion
forced themselves on the attention of the early set-
tlers. "The discusser's time hath not been spent al-
together in spiritual labors and public exercises of the
word," says Roger Williams, " but day and night, at
home and abroad, on land and water, at the hoe and
at the oar, for bread." In the summer of 1636, his
wife with their two baby girls had joined him. The
older, Mary, was not yet three, and little Freeborn
hardly six months. His oldest son, born in 1638, was
called Providence, in honor of the new settlement.
The difficulty with which the householders provided
security and some small measure of comfort for their
families is the dominating thought awakened by the
perusal of such scanty records as are left us of these
early days. Roger Williams writes to Winthrop in
the September of 1638: "Sir, my wife (together with
her best respects, to Mrs. Winthrop), requests her ac-
ceptance of an handfull of chesnuts, intending her
(if Mrs.Winthrop love them) a bigger basket of them
at the return of [the messenger]." The despatch of a
handful of chestnuts from Providence to Boston, by

Tlanter and Tlantation 29

way of a complimentary present, suggests a poverty
which may serve to enlighten us as to the reasons for
Roger Williams's great anxiety respecting the fate of
his worldly goods, left behind in Salem. "A heifer
. . . and the increase of her ; upwards of four score
weight of tobacco ; above 8/. for three goats due me
when they were two years since, about 4/. a goat; an
house watch ; and another new gown of my wives,
new come forth of England, and cost between 40
and 50 shillings," would have been no mean addition
to the resources of the pioneer home at Providence
Plantation, in the year of grace, 1637.

In these early years supplies came chiefly from the
Bay Colony and Plymouth, when they came at all.
The distance was great, and the journey painfully
made overland. Save for an occasional pinnace, we
read of no seagoing craft more staunch than a canoe ;
and although the intrepid Roger Williams tells of
"cutting through a stormy wind, with great seas," in
this frail boat, in the urgency of his errand to the Pe-
quod Indians, it is probable that freight was sent by the
slower and safer land route. Doubtless small com-
missions were despatched by a woodsman, sometimes
by an Indian. More bulky articles were shipped to
Newport, or came through Rehoboth. *'T is true I
may hire an Indian "(i.e., as messenger), Roger Will-
iams allows, "yet not always, not sure, for these
two things I have found in them; sometimes long
keeping of a letter; secondly, if a fear take them that

3 o Vrovidence in Colonial Times

the letter concerns themselves they suppress it." He
sends to his Boston friends for such articles as "medi-
cine suitable to these Indian bodies, also some draw-
ing plaster, & if the charge rise to one or two crowns,"
he will "thankfully pay it." His Indian corn, he
says, will be disposed of to the Boston merchants, or
to those of Seekonk. The price quoted in 1647 is four
shillings a bushel. Two years later it came from
Hempstead, Long Island, and was "extraordinary
dear," at six shillings, while wheat was selling at
eight.

So late as 1658, when the colony of the Providence
Plantation ventured to differ from the Massachusetts
theocracy as to the policy to be observed towards the
Quakers, commercial reprisals were both looked for
and dreaded. " They seem to threaten us, by cutting
us off from all commerce and trade with them, and
thereby to disable us from any comfortable subsist-
ence, . . . knowing that ourselves are not in a capa-
city to send out shipping of ourselves." So writes the
General Court of the colony to its agent in England,
John Clarke. " They make the price, both of their
commodities and our own." Another disadvantage
under which the poorer colony labored was the great
scarcity of English coin. "We have only that which
passeth among these barbarians, and such com-
modities as are raised by the labor of our hands,
as corn, catde, tobacco, &c., to make payment in,
which they will have at their own rates, or else not

"Planter and Plantation 3 1

deal with us ; whereby . . . they gain extraordinarily
by us."

This was by no means the first time that the hand
of Massachusetts had fallen heavily on her weaker
neighbor. In 1642, she found opportunity to put the
doctrine of squatter sovereignty to the test. For al-
though the Providence settlers held their territory by
virtue of a more or less formal conveyance from the
Indians, before the English common law they were
purely and simply squatters. A little group of set-
tlers on the farming-lands of Pawtuxet had found the
tranquil order of their days unpleasantly disturbed
by that arch-agitator, Samuel Gorton. They ap-
pealed to Massachusetts for aid in upholding the
cause of law and order, and the Bay Colony agreed
to permit the Pawtuxet farmers to put themselves
under the sheltering wing of her jurisdiction. Upon
this, Gorton and his followers withdrew to the neigh-
boring peninsula of Shawomet, where developments
of a stormy nature awaited them.

The conspicuous nature of Gorton's peculiar re-
ligious views and the persistency with which he ad-
vocated them, together with a fluency of tongue and
pen, noteworthy even in that era of polemic, speedily
secured him disciples, to whom the name of "Gor-
tonists,"or "Gortoneans," was somewhat contemptu-
ously applied. Backus, the historian of the Baptists,
writing in 1777, aptly characterizes Gorton and his
methods. "He was a man of smart capacity, and of

3 2 "Providence in Colonial Times

considerable learning, and when he pleased could ex-
press his ideas as plainly as any man ; but he used such
a mystical method in handling the Scriptures, and in
speaking about religion, that people are not agreed to
this day what his real sentiments were."

Public opinion in Providence was also unfriendly
towards Gorton. He had been forced to leave the
town, as the result of a street-brawl, and there was,
consequently, no disposition to interfere actively with
the attitude of Massachusetts. By this time, however,
the towns of Newport and Portsmouth, on the island
of Aquidneck, had amicably settled certain differ-
ences of opinion as to civil and religious matters, and
had set up a form of government far more highly or-
ganized than anything to be found on the mainland.
The leading townspeople on the island were men of
substance and position, and also of political expe-
rience. In their eyes, the extension of the Massachu-
setts jurisdiction to any portion of Rhode Island
soil was a pressing danger, which called for strong de-
fensive measures. The most effective step practicable
was promptly decided on, and Roger Williams was
requested by the towns of Newport and Portsmouth
to proceed forthwith to England, to apply for a patent
from the English government.

Chapter II

THE AGE OF THE CHARTERS

TO a man of Roger Williams's kind-hearted
and affectionate temperament, the return
to his native land, after an enforced absence
of fourteen years, must have been an event to be re-
garded with eager anticipation. He had left England
a fugitive, "harried out of the land"; he came back
to receive a warmly courteous welcome from power-
ful and sympathetic friends.

With characteristic disinterestedness he had de-
frayed the expenses of the journey by the sale of his
rights in certain islands in Narragansett Bay, —
namely. Patience, Prudence, and Hope. History is
silent as to the ways and means at the disposal of his
wife and six children, who remained at home. It was
surely with sad misgivings that the wife and mother
bade her husband Godspeed on that day in sunny
June when he left her for the Dutch port of New Am-
sterdam, whence he was to take ship for England.
The godly magistrates of the Massachusetts colony
could not feel themselves justified in permitting so
notorious a heretic within their seaports, even for the
purpose of taking his departure therefrom. What-
ever other preparations were made or neglected by
our traveller, he took good care — as seems to have

34 ^Providence in Colonial Times

been his unvarying habit — to provide an ample sup-
ply of pens, ink, and paper, and he employed his
leisure during the long voyage in the composition of
his famous Key into the Language of America. He
tells us that he "drew the materials" for this racy ac-
count of the Indians, their language, and customs,
" in a rude lump at sea, as a private help to my mem-
ory." The little volume was printed in London, at
the press of Gregory Dexter, who was already a pro-
prietor in the town of Providence. It caught the pub-
lic fancy, attracted much attention in official circles,
and materially furthered the object of the author's
mission to London. Through the good offices of Sir
Henry Vane, his former colleague in negotiations to
avert the threatened league between the hostile Pe-
quods and the Narraganset Indians, Roger Williams
was enabled not only to present his request to the
Board of Colonial Commissioners without delay, but
to see it brought to a speedy and successful issue.

In the September of 1644, the planter sailed for
America, taking with him "a full and absolute Char-
ter of Civill Incorporation, to be known by the name
of the Incorporation of the Providence Plantations
in Narragansett Bay in New England." This, in so
many words, granted to the settlers " full power and
authority to govern and rule themselves." He also
carried to the port of Boston, whither he took ship, a
letter addressed to the Governor and Assistants of
the Massachusetts Bay, on the part of the Parliamen-

Title-page to Roger Williams's " Key to the
Indian Language"

From the original in the John Carter Brown Library.

■ irl f J n-i.'C:.

A Key into Ae

LANGUAGE

O F ^

I AMERICA-

' O A,

I An help to the Layigutge of the Natives ,

f in chac pare of A m e a I c A, called

^ NEh'^ENG L AN D. j]

I Together, with briefe Ohfervaiio-^! of the Cu« |
I ftomes, Manners and VV or ihfps,c^r. oithe
1. atbrefaid '\dtivef, in Peace and War re,

i ^ in Life and Death. /'^

|On all which are added Spi'rituali ObfervAtjons,

GenmlUnd Particular hy the ^y^f*t hour, of

chjcfe and ipcciall u(e(upon all occahonsjto

all the Engl'ijb Inhabicing chole par::; >

ycc pleafant and profitable to

the view ot all men :

sr ROGER WILLIAMS j

LON'DOK,
Printed by Gtegorj "Better ^ 1^43.

The Age of the Charters 3 5

tary Commissioners. This interesting epistle con-
tains an expression of "the sorrowful resentment"
entertained in England that "amongst good men
driven to the ends of the world . . . there should be
such a distance," and suggests "a performance of all
friendly offices" between the Bay Colony and the
Providence Plantations, the more so because of "Mr.
Roger Williams's great industry and travels in his
printed Indian labors in your parts (the like whereof
we have not seen extant from any part of America)."

On the receipt of so decided an intimation of the
desirability of reconsidering their past conduct, the
magistrates of the Massachusetts colony felt called
on "to examine their hearts." The result of this ex-
amination was the gratifying conclusion that there
was "no reason to condemn themselves for any for-
mer proceeding against Mr. Williams." And unless
he could be brought to " lay down his dangerous prin-
ciples of separation," they saw "no reason why to
concede to him, or any so persuaded, free liberty of
ingress and egress, lest any of their people should
be drawn away with his erroneous opinions."

His Quaker neighbor, Richard Scott, has given an
account of the homecoming, to which the desire to
uphold his Quaker creed lends a touch of truly hu-
man asperity, that — softened by the distance of the
centuries — is not without a certain charm of pi-
quancy. "Coming from Boston to Providence," he
says, "at Seaconk the Neighbours of Providence met

3 6 Providence in Colonial Times

him with fourteen Cannoes, and carryed him to Pro-
vidence. And the Man being hemmed in the middle
of the Cannoes, was so Elevated and Transported
out of himself, that I was condemned in myself,
that amongst the Rest I had been an Instrument to
set him up in his Pride and Folly." The thought of
Roger Williams, that most disinterested and simple-
hearted of men, so "set up" as to be ** elevated and
transported out of himself," cheers one's very soul.
We can only wish that popular applause had more
frequently greeted his untiring efforts for the public
weal, and that it had been better sustained.

Although the charter was an avowed fact so early
as 1644, and its authority fully recognized, it was not
until two and a half years had slipped by that the
wheels of governmental machinery were sufficiently
well oiled to carry to a successful conclusion the first
session of the "General Court of Election ... for
the Colony and Province of Providence." This body
of lawmakers convened at Portsmouth, and in the
three days of their session adopted a criminal and
civil code, a bill of rights, a scheme of colonial admin-
istration providing for the local self-government of
the towns, and an executive for the ensuing year.
This last was made up of a president, four assistants,
a treasurer, a "general recorder" or secretary, and a
"general sargent," or sheriff. The town of Provi-
dence sent ten delegates to this first General Court of
the colony, with instructions to set forth the wish of

The Age of the Charters 3 7

Providence " to be governed by the Laws of England,
so farr as the nature and Constitution of this planta-
tion will admitt"; and further, "to have full power
and authoritye to transacte all our home affaires."

Inasmuch as "Mr. Roger Williams hath taken
great paines and expended much time in the obtayn-
inge of the Charter for this Province," it was en-
acted that "in regard of his so great travaile, charges
and good endeavours," he should be freely "given
and granted ;^ioo." Of this amount Newport was
to pay fifty pounds, Portsmouth thirty pounds, and
Providence tw^enty pounds, — an apportionment
showing the relative wealth of the island settlements
and that of the mainland.

"The forme of Government" was declared "De-
mocraticall." Warwick, now finally exempted from
any claim on the part of Massachusetts, was admitted
"to the same priviledges as Providence." All men
were to "walk as their consciences persuade them,
every one in the fear of his God." The code of law
adopted, under the name of "The Bulk of the Laws,"
is remarkable for the humanitarian tendency of its
enactments. Compared with the codes of its Puritan
neighbors, which dealt the death penalty for blas-
phemy, profanity, and disobedience to, or cursing of,
parents, that of the Providence Plantation seems to
emit a spirit of charity. " Poor persons that steal for
hunger" were not to suffer the extreme penalty of the
law. Imprisonment for debt was forbidden. "A sol-

3 8 ^Providence in Colonial Times

emn profession or testimony" was to be accounted
"of as full force as an oath." The General Court of
the colony was to meet on the first Tuesday after
May 15 in each year, "if wind and weather hinder
not," no small item in the account when we consider
the necessity for navigating Narragansett Bay in a
canoe.

The "home affairs," respecting which Providence
so jealously withheld all participation from the Gen-
eral Court, are interesting rather from the minute
scale of adjustment which served the needs of this
young body politic than from the intrinsic import-
ance of the details involved. Divisions and readjust-
ments of lands, whether in behalf of public or private
interests, went merrily forward. The surveyor must
have been a busy man, and it is not surprising that he
brought up his eldest son to follow the same trade.
The first town surveyor was Chad Brown, whose
home lot was situated at the foot of the present Col-
lege Street. He it was who drew up the list of the
home lots and the meadows from which our know-
ledge of these properties is obtained. He came to
Providence, with his family, in 1638, was one of the
little company who in that same year set out to walk
"in the Baptists Way," and two years later served
as one of the four men to draw up the "scheme of Ar-
bitration" for the government of the town. Roger
Williams speaks of his services in bringing "the after-
comers and the first twelve to a oneness by arbitra-

The Age of the Charters 3 9

tion." He died at some time previous to 1650, and
was buried on his home lot, where the court-house
now stands. On his widow's death, in 1672, the home
lot came into the possession of the oldest son, John,
also a surveyor and a Baptist elder. John, being com-
fortably settled in his own home at the north end of
the Towne Street, sold the homestead to his brother
James, then living in Newport. On the same day,
James, in turn, resold the lot to Daniel Abbott, re-
serving only the family burying-ground. Daniel Ab-
bott plays a loquacious if not precisely a conspicuous
part in the town affairs of the later seventeenth cen-
tury. Over one hundred years afterwards, Chad
Brown's descendants, John and Moses Brown, —
two of the four brothers whose biography is well-
nigh a history of the town of their day, — bought
back a part of the old home lot, and presented it to
Rhode Island College.

The town of the earlier Browns, however, knew
not, and dreamed not, of colleges. The "taking-up"
or transferring of home and house lots, "uplands,"
"spots of medow," and "pieces of salt Marsh," with
the rights and privileges thereto appertaining, ab-
sorbed the energy of the untiring land-traders, and
their conveyances crowd the town records of the sev-
enteenth century. Not a few of the early proprietors
appear to have invested in the lands of the town, and
held their property for a rise, or, at all events, they
decided for reasons more or less sound to settle else-

40 "Providence in Colonial Times

where. These absentees were not regarded with un-
qualified approval, and practical evidence in favor of
the thesis that the absentee is in the wrong was not
long in presenting itself. In 1643 "it was agreed by
the generall" — so runs the town record — that a
"horn share of ground , . . allso . . . thre akers
of madoe ground " should be assigned to a new pro-
prietor, but with the following proviso — if he *'be
absant from the town above eightten monthes leving
nither wife nor child heare the afor saide land shall
fall in to the townes hand again."

The "townes hand" is equally evident in the com-
pact signed in January, 1646, by the "twenty-five-
acre men." These individuals, "having obteyned a
free Grante of Twenty five Akers of Land a peece
with Right of Commoning . . . doe thankfully accept
of the Same ; And heereby doe promise to yield Active ;
or passive Obeydience to the Authority . . . estab-
lished in this Collonye ... As alsoe not to clayme
any Righte to the Purchase of the Said plantation ;
Nor any privilidge of Vote in Towne Affaires ; untill
we shall be received as free Men of the said Towne
of Providence." Among the names of these humble
and subordinate members of the community, who
seem to have been admitted on probation, are several
that will play a leading part in the near future. We
find here Pardon Tillinghast, who subsequently be-
came a prominent citizen, and a veritable pillar of
strength to his Baptist fellow-worshippers. John

The Age of the Charters 41

Clawson's name is here, — that protege of Roger Will-
iams, whose tragic end was long unique in the an-
nals of the little town. And next but one to Clawson
we find Benjamin Hearndon, on whom tradition
fixed the curse of his murdered neighbor. Here, too,
is Epenetus Olney, the thrifty innkeeper, before
whose well-known hostelry stood a famous "liberty-
tree," in the days when that type of forestry had be-
come popular.

More important than any industrial development
yet noted was the offer made in 1646 to John Smith,
the former miller of Dorchester. This was to the ef-
fect that he should "have the valley wherein his
house stands in case he set up a mill." The mill was
accordingly "set up" on the west bank of the Mo-
shassuc, near John Smith's home lot, which had doubt-
less been situated by the future mill-pond for the
greater convenience of the miller and his calling. A
bridge must have been built at about the same time.
Such a structure is designated as "New-bridge" in
1 65 1, when John Smith purchased a "6 acre Lot"
nearby.

The John Smith who figures in this last transac-
tion was the son of the first miller, whose widow
appears to have made an agreement with the town,
in 1649, to carry on her husband's business. John
Smith the second served his neighbors in his profes-
sional capacity for some thirty-five years. The field
of his operations embraced not only a grist-mill, but

42 ^Providence in Colonial Times

a saw-mill as well. To his widow and ten children
who survived him, he left a landed estate of more
than three hundred acres, situated in different parts
of the town, and varying greatly in value. Two
daughters received, each, forty acres of land, while a
third was given ten shillings, and it would be a rash
man who should undertake to prove that the last-
named child was ill-treated by this division. One
half of the home estate, including the mill and her
husband's interest in the saw-mill, went to his wife.
The eldest son received a much larger share of the
property than was given to his brothers, "upon Con-
ditions that he fayle not to be helpe full to his mother
to bring up the rest of his brothers and sisters, some
of them being very young."

From the inventory of the personal property we
learn something of the furnishings with which an
average townsman surrounded his family in the last
quarter of the seventeenth century. The house itself
consisted of two rooms, a "lower Roome," and a
" Chamber." In this last, the only pieces of furniture
were "two bed studs with the beds and beding to
them belonging." In the room below were one bed-
stead and its furnishings, four chairs, "a chest with
the Booke of Martirs in it, and an old Bible Some lost
and some of it torne." For kitchen utensils there was
a brass kettle, a small copper kettle, "an old broken
Copper Kettle, a fryeing pan, a spitt, and a small
Grater, a paile and a Cann,and 3 Iron Potts." Table-

The Age of the Charters 43

ware was represented by "two Small old pewter plat-
ters, two Basons & thre porengers, two quart Glasses,
severall wooden dishes, a wooden Bottle, some old
trenchers, and foure old Spoones." The greater part
of the estate of ninety pounds consisted, of course, of
the mill, which was valued at forty pounds, and the
interest in "the Saw mill adjoyneing, with the old
Mill-stone," estimated at three pounds, ten shillings.
Besides this there was live stock to the extent of one
steer, two heifers, two bulls, five horses of varying
and detailed attributes, and "i6 swine great and
small together."

The practical advantages of having one's corn
ground at home instead of at Newport, and carrying
the bags to the mill over dry planks rather than
through the ford, must have seemed small and pro-
saic to the farmers of Providence in comparison with
the dazzling future unfolded to their imaginations,
when, in 1648, "a Generall bruitt" was "noysed
throwout the Colonies . . . Scituated in these parts
of America, of a Mine Discovered within the Juris-
dictions ... of Providence plantations which is Sug-
gested to be Gold." The reality did not, however,
make good the above "Suggestion." A year later, it
is true, Roger Williams wrote from his trading-post
at Cawcawmsqussick to Governor Winthrop: "Sir,
concerning the bags of ore, it is of Rhode Island,
where it is certainly affirmed to be both gold and sil-
ver ore, upon trial." But alas! Further examination

44 "Providence in Colonial Times

dispelled this pleasing delusion, and the Rhode-
Islanders, perforce, again turned their attention to
ploughshares and fruit trees.

The house, or trading-post, at Cawcawmsqussick
is entitled to more than a passing mention. In 1637,
an enterprising pioneer, Richard Smith by name,
came into the Narraganset country, — "a most ac-
ceptable inhabitant, and a prime leading man in
Taunton and Plymouth colony," said Roger Will-
iams of this new arrival. Smith had left "faire pos-
sessions" in England, in the county of Gloucester,
when he adventured to America that he might enjoy
liberty of conscience. Finding the theological lim-
itations of the Pilgrim Fathers unprofitable for his
soul's welfare, he journeyed to Narraganset, where he
settled near the present Wickford, " erected a house
for trade, and gave free entertainment to travellers."
The site for his trading-post was well chosen. It was
close to the Pequod Path, "the great road of the
country," and just north of Wickford Harbor.

Smith was certainly "a prime leading man" in the
way of trade. Having successfully established a post
in the Narraganset country, where he was "Courte-
ous to all Strangers passing that way," he became a
partner in a similar enterprise within the Dutch ter-
ritory of Long Island, where his cause prospered until
the Indian raids drove all settlers in those parts to
take refuge at New Amsterdam. But even this mis-
fortune was not without a certain measure of mitiga-

The Age of the Charters 45

tion, for the Indian warriors' torch that reduced to
ashes the trading-house of Richard Smith may fairly
be said to have lighted another fire of happier omen.
The enforced and temporary residence of the trader
and his family at New Amsterdam was cheered and
enlivened by the marriage of his youngest daughter,
Catherine, to Doctor Gysbert op Dyck or Updike,
for by this revised version the family name was
known to succeeding generations. On the death of
his father-in-law. Doctor Gysbert and his children
obtained a goodly share of the family estate at
Wickford. The old Updike house, near that pleas-
ant little country town, stands on the site of Rich-
ard Smith's block-house. The earlier building was
burned by the Indians in the course of King Philip's
War.

Smith's first purchase from the Indians probably
amounted to some eighteen or twenty square miles.
There he and his son, Richard, Junior, did a thriving
business, and to this neighborhood Roger Williams
betook himself, on his return from England with
empty pockets, and slight prospects of filling them
from any more substantial token of regard than ap-
preciative votes, on the part of his ** loving friends
and neighbors" of Providence Plantations. His trad-
ing-house was perhaps a mile distant from that of the
Smiths, and there for six years he lived and pros-
pered, providing moral and religious nutriment for
the souls of his Narraganset friends, as well as hoes.

4 6 "Providence in Colonial Times

coats, beads, and other essentials to their social and
economic well-being.

These were busy years, crowded with the details of
farming, trading, preaching, and teaching, and also
with a voluminous correspondence, in the midst of
which appears a never-flagging interest in all that
concerns the town of Providence. The one hundred
pounds cheerfully voted him by the grateful colony
in its first General Court was so long in transit that
we find the expectant recipient suggesting, in 1651,
that since he has " through God's providence conven-
iencye of improving some goats, the payment of it"
might be "in cattle of that kind." The social ameni-
ties of a trading-post are signified in his gift of "2
small papers of pins" to Mrs. Winthrop, " that if she
want not herself, yet she may pleasure a neighbor."
" Sir," he writes at another time, " if you have Car-
penter's Geography, or other discourse about the
Earth's diurnal motion, spare it a little." Again, he
sends directions for the use of hay-seed: "It is best
to sow it upon a rain preceding. . . . Sow it not in
an orchard, near fruit trees, for it will steal and rob
the trees, etc." It was from his trading-house, too,
that Roger Williams made his sad last journey to
"Canonicus the great Sachem of the Narragansetts,
the true Lord of this whole Countrey," whose eyes
he was "sent for to close up and did."

The even tenor of life on the Great Salt River and
in the Narraganset country was rudely interrupted in

Richard Smith Block-house at Cocumscussuc

Constructed by Richard Smith, Jr., about 1680, partly
from the materials of the old garrison house. From a
drawing in Whitefield's Homes of our Forefathers in
Rhode Island, 1882.

m "1

The Age of the Charters 47

the late summer of 165 1 by the astonishing and most
disconcerting announcement of a separation — nay,
a rending in twain — of the very fabric of the colonial
body politic. For there appeared to the settlers Will-
iam Coddington of Newport, bringing a patent from
the Council of State in England, whereby he was
created governor of the islands of Rhode Island and
Conanicut for life. The audacity of such a project,
backed by its apparent success, must have dealt a
staggering blow to the confidence with which the
Rhode-Islanders had pursued their several callings
under the protection of the Earl of Warwick's patent.
No sooner had the stroke fallen, however, than a
counter-stroke was resolved upon. The towns of
Providence and Warwick hastened to place them-
selves on record as " imbodyed & incorporated as be-
fore, by virtue of our Charter," and they forthwith
appealed to Roger Williams, soliciting him to betake
himself to England, "to endeavor the renewing of
their liberties"; for it seems to have been assumed by
the colonists that the patent of 1644 was annulled by
virtue of the grant to Coddington. If ever help was
asked in vain of Roger Williams the fact has thus far
eluded observation. On this occasion he disposed of
the Cawcawmsqussick trading-post to his neighbor,
Richard Smith, for fifty pounds in ready money, and
if — as he says in one of his later letters — the profits
were one hundred pounds per year, the worthy Smith
must have made a pretty penny by the transaction.

4 8 Trovidence in Colonial Times

Permission was obtained frcwn Massachusetts to sail
from the port of Boston. With Williams went Doc-
tor John Clarke, on behalf of a large and discontented
minority of the inhabitants of Newport and Ports-
mouth, with instructions to obtain, if possible, a de-
cree annulling the Coddington grant.

John Clarke, the well-known physician and phi-
lanthropist of Newport, was destined to spend twelve
years in England, before his mission was brought to a
successful close. Although it proved a comparatively
easy matter to obtain an order placing Coddington's
patent in abeyance, a time and opportunity for the
rehearing of the whole question were not so readily
come by, in those stirring days when Parliament and
the future Lord Protector were on such terms of bitter
disagreement that the application of the sword to the
Gordian knot was felt by all men to be but a matter
of days.

Sir Henry Vane was again approached in the col-
ony's behalf, and once more proved himself an in-
valuable friend and ally. " The sheet-anchor of our
ship is Sir Henry," wrote Roger Williams to the towns
of Warwick and Providence, "and he faithfully pro-
mised me that he would observe the motion of our
New England business, while I staid some ten weeks
with his lady in Lincolnshire . . . remember I am a
father and a husband," the letter continues; "I have
longed earnestly to return with the last ship ... yet I
have not been willing to withdraw my shoulders from

Portrait of William Coddington
From original portrait in Court House at Newport.

The Age of the Charters 49

the burthen, lest it pinch others, and may fall heavy
upon all. ... If you conceive it necessary for me
still to attend to this service, pray you consider if it be
not convenient that my poor wife be encouraged to
come over to me, and to wait together ... for the
end of this business. . . . I write to my dear wife my
great desire of her coming while I stay, yet left it to
the freedom of her spirit, because of the many dan-
gers."

A year earlier he had despatched an epistle to his
wife which is probably unique in the annals of mar-
ital correspondence. In this extraordinary document
the "recovery "of "his Wife M.W. . . . from a dan-
gerous sicknesse" serves as the text for a sermon, or
" Discourse," of almost twenty thousand words, en-
titled "Experiments of Spiritual Life and Health and
their Preservatives." And yet, despite theological
phraseology and involved argument, the heartfelt
sincerity and affection of the opening sentences to
his " Dearest Love and Companion in this Vale of
Tears" give us a delightful glimpse of the tender
husband and father.

" My dear Love," he writes, " since it pleaseth the
Lord so to dispose of me, and of my affairs at present,
that I cannot often see thee, I desire often to send to
thee. I now send thee that which I know will be
sweeter to thee than the Honey and the Honey-combe,
and stronger refreshment than the strongest wines or
waters, and of more value then if every line and letter

50 "Providence in Colonial Times

were thousands of gold and silver. ... I send thee
(though in Winter) an handfull of flowers made up in
a little Posey, for thy dear selfe, and our dear chil-
dren, to look and smell on, when I as the grasse of the
field shall be gone, and withered." At this point the
theologian comes to the front, and without further loss
of time plunges into a disquisition on the nature of
the "inner man," under three "heads" and thirty-
four "arguments." Most assuredly this diet would
seem "strong refreshment" to a convalescent of the
twentieth century. Let us trust that Mary Williams
was both invigorated and edified by the tonic so elab-
orately prepared for her delectation.

Upon Vane's retirement from public affairs, in
1654, the prospect of immediate action became so lit-
tle encouraging, and his own pecuniary resources
were so far from adequate for his needs, that Williams
decided to leave the matter of the charter in John
Clarke's hands, and to return to Providence. Al-
though hearty expressions of gratitude and apprecia-
tion had reached him from home, it is a sad fact that
if remittances came at all, they were few and far be-
tween, notwithstanding that the town of Providence
stood committed by its records "to pay the hundred
pounds that is dew to him and a hundred pounds
more." We know that he gave lessons in London
to "two young gentlemen, a Parliament man's
sons, as we teach our children English, by words,
phrases, and constant talk," etc. "Grammar rules,"

The Age of the Charters 5 ^

it seems, were even at that early date "esteemed a
tyranny."

A perusal of the "town papers" shows among the
items submitted in June, 1652, eighteen pounds "paid
to Mr. Roger Williams," and five pounds more "to
his wife since he went to England." This substan-
tial token of appreciation was soon followed across
the Atlantic by a letter from the General Court, in
which Roger Williams was informed that " it might
tend much to the weighinge of men's mindes, and sub-
jectinge of persons who have been refractory" if he
were himself appointed governor of the colony by the
home authorities. But no sooner was the proposal
despatched than, with one accord, it was regretted,
and in the next session of the Court — three months
later — it was voted to be "contrarie to the liberties
and freedom of the free people of this Collony, and
contrarie to the end for which the sayd Roger Will-
iams was sent." Happily for "the sayd Roger Will-
iams," the ends for which he strove were not those
of a Coddington.

William Dyer, who appeared at Newport, in 1652,
with an order annulling Coddington's patent, proved
to be anything but a messenger of peace. For two
more weary years recriminations were busily ex-
changed between the towns of the island and those of
the mainland . The declaration of war with the Dutch
caused a passing diversion, but proved to offer oppor-
tunity for further difference of opinion rather than

5 2 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

for that union in which is strength. Warwick and
Providence learned with consternation that com-
missions "tending to war" had been "granted and
given" by Portsmouth and Newport to John Under-
bill, Edward Hull, and WilHam Dyer, "which is like,
for ought we see, to set all New England on fire, for
the event of war is various and uncertaine," they re-
monstrated. Whether the "Councill of States' direc-
tion ... to offend the Dutch" was open to such war-
like construction as the above was felt by the party
of opposition to be more than doubtful. By May of
the following year (1654) a junction with the island
towns was effected for the transaction of current busi-
ness. This preliminary union was followed in Au-
gust by a formal meeting of commissioners from " the
foure Townes uppon the reunitinge of this Colonic of
Providence Plantation," and in September the re-
united colony elected Roger Williams, newly arrived
from England, for their president.

The even more important role of peacemaker was
first to be carried to a conclusion, and to that end
some undiluted home-truths were plainly set forth.
"It hath been told me that I labored for a licentious
and contentious people," they were roundly told by
the newly elected president; "it is said . . . that both
sides wished that I might never have landed, that the
fire of contention might have had no stop in burn-
ing. ..." This, and more to the same effect, reinforced
by a letter of stern rebuke from Sir Henry Vane, pro-

Signature of Roger Williams

As President of the Colony, November 2, 1654. From
the original document in the Moses Brown Papers, vol.
18, p. di, in the Rhode Island Historical Society.

l ' ^ ^ '^-x .r kfn/ct-i'i/j "irf jLj c-i/^v,";-, free. I ^1 a^Ufc jf a //J,/

; M^^eJ ^ C<^h^}j^>f^'^^ ci Fill a^ ^^,^1^

'■-.-..SiPTS. ,

■ -^.^ ^3r'j?A&J&i

The Age of the Charters 5 3

duced a chastened frame of mind in the townspeople
of Providence, who describe themselves as " an outcast
and despised people . . . greatly disturbed and dis-
tracted by the ambition and covetousness of some
amongst us," whose hope it is that posterity "shall
read in our town records your pious and favourable
letters and loving kindness to us, and this our answer,
and real endeavor after peace and righteousness."
And indeed peace, if not righteousness, endured be-
tween the towns of the colony for the two years and a
half during which Roger Williams filled the office of
president. Although Coddington did not explicitly
abandon his assumption of executive powers until
the spring of 1656, when he "publickly professed"
submission to the authority of the Lord Protector, a
general sense of the futility of his position had, long
before, quieted public apprehension.

A much greater amount of uneasiness was experi-
enced in the town of Providence at the disturbing pro-
spect of "making war upon the Dutch," with whom
the settlement had always maintained friendly rela-
tions, and through whose enterprising traders a large
part of her supplies were obtained. Nevertheless,
since hostilities seemed imminent, a "Traine band"
was organized, officered by a "Liutenant, Ensigne,
Sergeant," two " Corporalls," and a "Gierke," the
latter's duties, evidently, to consist of listing "the
Fines from absent souldiers," who were to pay two
and sixpence for each offence. In the following year

54 "Providence in Colonial Times

the penalty for absence was decreed to be "2j-. or no-
thing as the generall & Towne Officers or chiefe com-
mander in the Band shall thinke meete." Notwith-
standing this apparent loosening of the bonds of mili-
tary discipline, measures were taken to provide a
"Maugazine of armes and amunition in the Towne."

Fears of an Indian outbreak were doubtless respon-
sible, in part at least, for these displays of martial
ardor. Scarcely had Roger Williams reached the Pro-
vidence Plantation when his diplomatic talents were
exerted to mend a breach between Massachusetts and
the Narraganset Indians. For some months Ninigret,
"the proud and fierce" sachem of the Nyantics,
whose headquarters were at Pawcatuck, now West-
erly, stood in danger of an attack from the troops of
the Bay Colony. The danger was averted, but its
traces may be seen in such enactments as that per-
mitting one man to be left at home on training-days
on " those Farmes which are one mile off the Town
alone," and in the strict orders issued to prevent sell-
ing ammunition to the Indians, who were, neverthe-
less, "filled with artillery and ammunition from the
Dutch, openly and horridly, and from all English
over the country (by stealth)," — to quote the indig-
nant words of Roger Williams to the Court of Magis-
trates, at Boston.

Another precaution was the appointment of two
"ordinarie keepers in each Towne, for the preventing
of the great mischiefe of Indian drunkenness." They

The Age of the Charters 5 5

were to have the sole right to sell liquor to any one,
English or Indian, in less quantities than one gallon,
and further, in the case of an Indian, the amount of
spirituous refreshment to be obtained at the ordinary
was limited to one quarter of a pint " of liquers or wine
a day." Nor was this by any means the extent of the
regulation of the liquor traffic. The price at retail was
fixed, "not to exceed four shillings a quart, at peage
[wampum] six per pennie " ; and all liquors were or-
dered "recorded in the Towne records," on penalty
of forfeiture. Lastly, an excise was established for
the benefit of the town treasury.

The local method of replenishing the town purse at
Providence had heretofore been a rate levied on the
live stock of various sorts, such as that of 1649, when
"the Constable of the Town" was ordered "to levy
and gather T^d. for Cows id. for Swine and id. pr
Goat for Common Charges." Since at the same
meeting it was deemed fitting that the constable
should have "a staffe made him whereby he shall be
knowne to have the authority of the Towne-Con-
stable," it may not be amiss to assume that in his
position as tax-gatherer "a staffe" would carry with
it a certain amount of practical authority to which
the cows and goats might prove amenable, in case
their owners should be disposed to parley. The
earhest "towne rate" extant in the Providence
records is that of 1650. Fifty-one tax-payers are
listed, whose total assessment amounts to fifty-six

5 6 Trovidence in Colonial Times

pounds, five shillings. Two men among these pay
three pounds and over. Two pay a fraction over two
pounds. One pays five pounds. This last was Bene-
dict Arnold, who subsequently removed to Newport,
where his stone mill has proved a treasure-house of
conjecture, alike for the critical scholar and the
legend-loving poet.

In a community whose property chiefly consisted
of pasture lands and the cattle which fed on them,
we should expect to find an abundance of hides, both
raw and cured, and, presently, tanyards and the
leather trades. It is in accordance with this natural
development along the line of least resistance that we
observe Edward Inman selecting a home lot "con-
venient ... for his trade of dressing fox Gloves,"
in 1652. A few years later, "Tho; Olnie Junr his
house Lot" was to be "la yd out by the Stompers,"
as he had requested, "provided he follow Taning."
"The Stompers" was a street, or lane, which entered
the Towne Street from the west at a point near the
northern extremity of that main artery of the village
life. It followed the brow of a short hill, or bluff,
above the river, and then plunged down, by a some-
what steep descent, to the bridge by the mill. The old
thoroughfare still exists, as Stampers Street, but its
grade is, of course, much altered. In the middle of
the seventeenth century it marked the centre of the
public life of the settlement, and as such was sug-
gested as a suitable place for a block-house, should

The Age of the Charters 5 7

this refuge prove necessary in the event of open hos-
tilities between the New-England colonies and the
Indians. This threatened peril was happily averted,
and another generation grew to manhood ere the
traditional friendship of the Narragansets failed to
shield the Providence Plantation.

The welcome tidings of peace with the Dutch was
shortly followed by the announcement of Cromwell's
death, and that fateful piece of news proved but the
prelude to a greater change ; the King was to enjoy
his own again. With laudable zeal the colony of
Providence Plantation kept well abreast of the times,
and offered congratulations and expressions of loyal
devotion to each arbiter of its fate, in turn. The
trustworthy John Clarke received a renewal of his
commission as agent, that he might appear duly
accredited in the eyes of the new dispensation, and to
his industry and sagacity the colony owed her new
charter, issued in 1663. Thirteen years of residence
in England, the last two of which had been filled to
satiety with the formalities of official negotiation, not
unmingled with a certain amount of back-stairs
intrigue, had reduced the estimable physician's re-
sources to a pitiable condition. He was forced to
borrow money by mortgaging his estates at Newport,
and although the grateful colony, on being informed
of his need, promptly voted "that the first thing that
shall be pitched on and agitated shall be how to rayse
supplies for Mr. John Clarke," and forthwith passed

5 8 Trovidence in Colonial Times

a resolution to send him one hundred pounds "by
the first shipe that goes," and to "save him harmless
in his estate," there is but too good reason to fear
that two thirds of the amount due was never paid.

The new charter was received with every demon-
stration of respect. " Att a very great meeting and
assembly of the freemen of the Collony of Providence
Plantations, at Newport," in the November of 1663,
the charter was "taken forth and read ... in the
audiance and view of all the people ; . . . and . . .
the letters with His Majestyes Royall Stampe, and
the broad scale, with much becoming gravity held up
on hygh, and presented to the perfect view of the peo-
ple, and then returned into the box and locked up by
the Governor, in order to the safe keeping of it."
To the expectant listeners before whom this guaranty
of their privileges was read aloud, the most import-
ant clause was probably that which declares that no
man shall be "any wise molested punished disquieted
or called in question for any differences of opinion in
matters of religion." From that time to this, unchal-
lenged and unquestioned, the "livelie experiment
. . . that a flourishing civill State may stand and
best be maintained . . .»with a full liberty in reli-
gious concernments," has been " set forth," and has
extended throughout a commonwealth prosperous
beyond the wildest dreams of its bold pioneers, and
reaching from the Atlantic coast of their early
struggles to the South Seas of their brightest visions.

The Age of the Charters 5 9

In the nature of things a royal charter embodied,
for Englishmen, a distinct and venerated authority,
which it was not in the temperament of the average
man to disregard. Under this new influence the
colony insensibly changed its attitude on public
questions, and on the whole it may be said that from
this time the tendency — in spite of many reaction-
ary episodes — was to unify, to grow together, and
to realize a common responsibility to work under a
common authority for the well-being of the com-
munity as a whole.

Chapter III

ROGER WILLIAMS AND THE TOWN OF
PROVIDENCE — KING PHILIP'S WAR

THE brief period of Roger Williams's serv-
ice as president of the plantation he had
founded, marks the beginning of a new
phase in the relation between himself and the town of
Providence. He returned from England in 1654 to
find the little colony in a condition closely bordering
on anarchy. Liberty had become license. Every
man did as seemed best for his own interests, with
small regard for those of his neighbor. A disposition
to settle disputes by the summary method of a street-
fight rather than by the arbitration of a town-meeting,
grew apace. Samuel Gorton had filled the office of
president of the colony during part of the turbulent
years when Williams was absent in England, and
Gorton was a man whose recriminative talents shine
forth conspicuously, even in that age and country.
Yet Gorton publicly declared himself unable to stem
the tide of argument and vituperation which he was
forced to encounter. "Such men are fittest for office
in this place," he wrote to his "Worthie friends" of
Providence, "That can with most ease undergoe the
greatest Load of Ignominy and Reproach, of which
for my own Part, I am uncapable."

Title-page of Samuel Gorton's "Simplicities
Defence against Seven-Headed Policy"

From the original in the library of the Rhode Island
Historical Society.

•)M.>T '1 -.'i • ., T"^-ytMva8 Tky'f-"- T-.y--. ..--(1

sJmTLICJTJES 'DSfE3^E^

SEVEN-HEADED POLICY,

A true complaint of a peaceable people, being
part of the EngluTi in New fingIand,Qiadcunto the ftate
ot O.d England, tgiinft crucil persecutors

Vnited in (^hurch- (jovernment

in thofe parts.

Wherein is mademanifefl; the manifold out-rages
cruelrie«,oppreffions,and taxations ,6y crucil andclofeim*
prifonmems, Hre and fword, deprivation of goods, Lindy, and i(tr«»
iyhood, and fuch Ike barbirous inhumanities, exerctfed apou the

people ef" PtGvidencc plantations in the Nanhygsnfet Bay by ihofc of rfa:

Maftaduif^K, with the red of the united Colonies, firetcbing thetnTclvei

beoynd the bound»of all their own lurifdi&iom, perpetrated and aftc4

in fuch an unreafonable and barbarous manner, at maj^

thereby hav€ Joft their lives.

As k hath been faithfully declared to the Hoooni'able

CocQuaitttcof Lords and Commons fo- Forrain Plaoti^^iss^
nhctcuponthey give prefent Order fbrB;edrc&. .

The fight and confideration whereof hath moved a great

Country oi the Indians and NiMvesin thofc parts. Princes and

people tofUbmtt unto the Crown of England, and earneftly |o fuciolha

State thereof for fafeguard and Iheltci itotn likccruclriet«

fmfrimatttr, t^^u^, 3* 16^. Dihgently pcrufed, iipprovcd, tind

Licenred to the PrefTe, according kT Order by paWike Authorky,

LONDON^
lariated by ftbt$ Mtuoek^, and are to be foti bJ^ Utorge trhUting-

C«rnhtL t ^47.

™*^*TtT**— ". " ■' '" .'..,'■' V ..'■'< '' \ ."1'"'!.' ? ".^''"ii'.

JVilliams and "Providence 6 1

Roger Williams appeared among his fellow-
townsmen, in the midst of their distractions and
contentions, with all the prestige which his services
in their behalf and his influence with those high in
authority, could bestow. These advantages of his
position, and his never-failing tact as an arbitrator,
speedily brought about no small measure of peace. In
the nature of things, it was to be expected that the pen-
dulum would presently swing in the opposite direc-
tion, and it was not many months before the reaction-
ary temper of the people was made manifest in several
small incidents of the local administration. The leader
of the opposition was William Harris, a man whom
Roger Williams utterly distrusted and disliked, but
whose practical ability was sufficient to secure him a
considerable following. Harris was now living at Paw-
tuxet. His first aggression took the form of a pamphlet
attacking the fundamental principles of law and order,
and this in sufficiently explicit terms to lead Williams
to accuse him of high treason. The court failed to sub-
stantiate the charge, and the matter was shelved by
a reference to the colony's agent in England, John
Clarke.

While Harris was maturing his strategic plans for
the next manoeuvre, the missionary zeal of the
Quakers was forced on the attention of the General
Court by a letter from the Puritan colonies, request-
ing the cooperation of Rhode Island in the attempt
to stamp out this new and " most pestilential" heresy.

62 Providence in Colonial Times

The reply sent back by President Benedict Arnold
and his assistants is well known : "We have no law to
punish any for only declaring by words their minds
. . . concerning . . . the ways of God as to Salva-
tion and an eternal condition " ; and to this declara-
tion of principle was added a counsel of expediency:
"in those places where these people . . . are most of
all suffered to declare themselves freely . . . there
they least of all desire to come."

Contrary to the anticipations thus expressed by
President Arnold, the Quakers not only "desired to
come'' to the Providence Plantation, but once there,
they stayed, prospered, and made a goodly number
of converts. Catherine, the wife of Richard Scott,
who has already figured in the religious history of the
colony, now became a Quaker, and made her way
from Providence to Boston, to "bear testimony."
She was followed by many others, and as the tide of
missionary zeal swelled until it reached the point of
fanaticism, the punishments meted out to the trans-
gressor within the Bay Colony's jurisdiction became
proportionately brutal and inhumane. To Roger
Williams, fresh from his sad experience of the dis-
orders rife in a community where every man is a law
to himself, it appeared evident that the outbursts of
fanaticism referred to might easily become subvers-
ive of all civil authority ; while the harmless depart-
ure from certain social customs, offensive to the
Quakers, must have seemed to him a step in the same

Williams and Trovidence 63

direction. He accordingly took an immediate and
decided stand against the Quaker doctrine of the
"inner light," and in the heat of his controversy with
George Fox — at a later period of his career — de-
clared " that a due and moderate restraint and pun-
ishment'* of such "incivilities" as disrespect towards
one's superiors, and the use of "thee" and "thou"
in conversation, was "far from persecution," and
even "a duty and commandment of God." So dif-
ferent is the point of view of the man who conducts
a government from his who leads an opposition.
There can be no doubt, however, that the Quakers
had the sympathy and respect of the greater part of
the plantation. Especially was this true of Newport,
where the larger share of such prosperity and cultiva-
tion as existed in the colony was to be found. From
the beginning, the influence of the Quakers grew
steadily, and they had many sympathizers among
those who did not profess their faith, as, for example,
our old friends, Samuel Gorton and William Harris.
This was the state of afl^airs when, in the closing
months of 1660, there began the long and furious
controversy over the "Pawtuxet purchase." The
General Court had given permission to the town of
Providence "to purchase a little more [land] not
exceeding three thousand acres." Thereupon Will-
iam Harris promptly obtained the so-called con-
firmatory deeds, or conveyances, from the Narra-
ganset sachems, in which the phraseology of the

^4 ^Providence in Colonial Times

grant of 1639 was so interpreted as to include some
three hundred thousand acres outside the town
boundaries as originally laid down. To this trans-
action the town of Providence took no exception,
but, on the contrary, proceeded " to sett the Boundes
of our plantation," in accordance with the new grant,
"Twenty miles from foxes hill Westward up in the
Countrey." To a letter of protest from Roger
Williams, written in behalf of his Indian friends, the
town returned an answer "Drawne up" by three
men, of whom William Harris was one, to the fol-
lowing effect: "wee know, that if wee lett goe our
True hold already Attained, wee shall (if not our-
selves, yett our posteretye) Smart for itt, and wee
conceive herein that wee doe Truely understand
what your Selfe doth not. And if your Aprehension
take place, as wee hope it never will, in those your
proposalls, Wee happely may See what wee conceive
You desire not, the Ruine of what you have given
name to (viz) poore providence."

Here this particular matter rested for some seven
years. The conservative policy just set forth did
much to diminish Roger Williams's popularity, and
is probably accountable for certain acts and orders of
the town-meeting whereby the measure of reproof
and admonition with which the apostle of religious
liberty had striven to turn his neighbors from their
evil courses, was meted out to him again.

Shortly after the correspondence just quoted, the

TVilliams and Trovidence 65

case of William Burrows came up for consideration.
William Burrows had been a freeman of Providence
for over twenty years. He signed the agreement of
1640. He was taxed in the rate of 1650, and he once
in a while served as town juror. Whether through
illness, or old age, — perhaps both, — he became
unable to carry on the business of his farm, and in
1655 he sold "his whole parcell of Meadow . . . and
six acres of upland lying togeather at Newbridge" to
Thomas Arnold, on these terms, — that Arnold
should pay him forty shillings yearly, so long as he
(Burrows) should live, " live he longer, or die sooner
at the good pleasure of God." The form of payment
was to be as follows: "The first thirteene shillings
and foure pence in Labour of ploughing or Carting
or some of both; secondly the said summe i3j-. \d. in
English Corne Wheat or Rye, or some of both as the
price shall be Currant at Providence after harvest;
& the said summe of 13^. \d. in swine*s flesh, at
killing time before Winter." To this agreement the
name of Roger Williams is signed as witness.

Three years later, two cows belonging to Burrows
were turned over to Henry Redock, in present pay-
ment of a debt of eight pounds, and, on his side,
Redock agreed to furnish Burrows "i5j-. yearly in
Butter and Cheese at the comon price," during
Burrows's lifetime. Furthermore, at Burrows's death
his "Three Score Acors of Land, And Meddow at
neutaconkonitt" were to go to Redock's son, and

66 'Providence in Colonial Times

"his movables and Debtes" to Redock's daughter,
and in conclusion, " the Said Henry Redock hereby
ingageth himselfe, and his heirs to provide conven-
iently for the Buriall of the Said William Burrowes."
And here again, Roger Williams acted as witness.

From the letter written by the town, two years
afterward (1660), it is evident that Roger Williams
had been put in charge of the Burrows estate,
whether by the town or not does not appear. It is also
evident that the detailed arrangements so carefully
stipulated in the documents quoted had failed to
meet all the emergencies of the case. Consequently,
Williams, and others as well, called on the town to
come forward and provide more satisfactorily for the
poor man. The town took up the case, and "having
no Knowledg how Matters Stood with his Estate,"
sent for Roger Williams, who "came not," but sent a
copy of the agreement with Redock, "which was no
Satisfaction."

Thereupon the townspeople, in their meeting as-
sembled, took upon themselves with no little zest the
role of mentor, and proceeded to indite a letter of
reproof to Roger Williams, in a tone of high moral
superiority. "As for your paper we are Sorrey to
See Such unwise passages. That a debt due after
death Should be payde out of his Estate whilst hee is
yett living is [in] A manner as wee conceive takeing
Bread out of his mouth, for wee judge it the princeple
of his lively hood. And wee thinke if it had benn well

JVilliams and "Providence 67

managed might have given A good Stroake to his
maintenance, And wee judg the Law will make them
Keepe him while hee is living, that Should have his
Revenewes when hee is dead; only one thing wee
well perceive is taken care for (viz) an honorable
Buriall, but wee find but little honorable care for his
Livelyhood; Sir wee desire you would take all in
good part, wee intend no Evile but willing to give A
hint as we find it, we Rest: Yor Lo: Neighbours."

It may be that the Redock family were able to defy
the law, even in the face of their prospective enjoy-
ment of the "Revenewes" of the Burrows estate.
Certain it is that they make no further appearance in
the town records. A home for Burrows was found
with Roger Mowry, the *' ordinary keeper" in Provi-
dence, whose license bound him to maintain a bed
for the entertainment of strangers, and whose hos-
pitality was at the service of every man whose charge
was paid, whether by himself, or his residuary le-
gatees, or the town rates. In the present instance an
agreement was made "with the Towne to Keepe
him," and for two years all went well. Then it is
probable that the payments of the stipulated annuity
of grain, pork, butter, and cheese ran behind, for in
October, 1663, the town deputies were instructed to
" goe unto all Inhabetantes . . . to see what will be
Freely Contributed towardes the reliefe of William
Burrows." And if this appeal to the liberality of the
townspeople should not result in the contribution of

68 Trovidence in Colonial Times

"a considerable sum," a town rate was to be levied
for his support. Two months later all need for either
rate or free contribution was past. We are not in-
formed if Henry Redock furnished the "honorable
Buriall," as previously agreed, but we do know that
he received a communication from the town to the
effect that "being making up all accountes concern-
ing William Burrowes : They find Fifteene shillinges
to be due from you: They doe therefore herby de-
mande the same sum desiring the speedy payment
thereof."

Contemporary with the affair of the Burrows es-
tate was that of another property whose owner died
intestate under circumstances that must have fur-
nished food for gossip and conjecture by every fire-
side in the township during the long winter evenings
of 1 66 1 . Some early riser, while crossing the common
lands at the north end of the town, one cold Decem-
ber morning, saw before him the figure of a man
lying across the well-trodden path, by the side of a
thick clump of barberry bushes. He hurried forward
to offer his help, lifted the prostrate form, and gazed,
horror-stricken, into the well-known face of his
neighbor, John Clawson the Dutchman. A terrible
blow from a broad-axe had cloven his head from
forehead to chin. Help was called, and the poor man
was carried to his own house — but a short distance
away — to die.

John Clawson was a Dutchman who had either

JVilliams and Vrovidence 69

strayed into the Narraganset country from the
Dutch settlements to the westward, or — and this
seems more probable — had fallen into the hands of
the Indians in some of their raids on the Dutch towns
of Connecticut, or Long Island. At all events, Roger
Williams gives the most detailed account of him, and
Roger Williams says that he "sought him out (by
Natives) and cherished him in his lost, naked and
starving condition," and further, that he was not only
Clawson's master, "and he my house hold servant by
the yeare, but his school mr, giving him my Dutch
Testament and spending much time to teach him to
reade." Just when all this took place we do not
know, but it must have been at an early period in the
annals of the plantation, for in 1645 we find Clawson
admitted to the fellowship of those subordinate mem-
bers of the community, the "twenty-five acre men."
Clawson was a carpenter by trade, and a long-
headed, thrifty fellow by habit and disposition.
Skilled workmen were few and far between in that
pioneer settlement, and we are probably justified in
assuming that the Dutchman could earn a better
livelihood at his handicraft than by scratching at the
sandy soil of Providence Neck in hope of a more or
less precarious harvest. This fact will account for the
record of 1659, asserting that he "for good Consid-
eration . . . hath sold unto Richard Prey of Provi-
dence ... all his Clayme, Right, and Tytle that he
hath from the towne of Providence Excepting his

70 Trovidence in Colonial Times

house Lott, or share of Land lieing next to Benjamin
Hearnton," at the north end of the town.

Either Richard Pray failed to make good his part
of the bargain, or Clawson was sufficiently fore-
handed to be able to secure a second tract of twenty-
five acres within the next two years, of which he died
possessed. For the sake of continuity we may as-
sume the former alternative, and also that while the
sale was pending, Clawson's fellow-townsmen —
who seem to have been on far from friendly terms
with him — insisted on a strict interpretation of
his side of the agreement. At all events, whether
through carelessness, ignorance, or pure disregard of
his legal obligations, Clawson seems to have ignored
the fact that the disposal of "all his Clayme, Right,
and Tytle" debarred him from the use of the com-
mon. He owned a cow, which may have fed on the
forbidden territory. For that, or some other equally
valid reason, his law-abiding neighbors complained
of him "for makeing use of the Common," and he
was "forthwith forewarned" by the Quarter Court
" to forbare in any wise to make use of any of the
Common." That the Dutchman had reason to feel
himself aggrieved is evident from Roger Williams's
letter already quoted. Williams alludes to his quar-
relling "upon Law matters," to "his Cow," etc., in
"other men's hands," and to his "Folly and Fro-
wardness," as well as to the "Helpe and Favour"
Clawson had received from himself.

TVilliams and "Providence 7 ^

As a matter of course, the sufferer was cared for by
his neighbors, the Hearndons, by his friend and pa-
tron, Roger WilHams, and also his wife, and by
others who came to share the vigil, to proffer advice,
and to learn the story in all its harrowing details at
first-hand. Although in a dying condition, Clawson
lingered through the day, and as the long hours wore
away he made piteous and almost hopeless efforts to
speak. The only words that could be distinguished
were these, "My master — my goods," over and
over again, and no questioning could elicit anything
further in the way of explanation. It was assumed by
Roger Williams, and it seems to have been the first
thought of those who helped to care for the dying
man, that Clawson was trying to say that his master
should have his goods, and on the strength of this
assumption, Roger Williams applied for letters of
administration. The townspeople did not, however,
fully sympathize with his point of view. A hue and
cry had been raised, and an Indian known as
Waumanitt had been apprehended, — on just what
grounds, does not appear. The town treasury was
in an even more exhausted condition than usual, and
the murdered man had left no relatives, while he
had left a house and lot, " 25 acres of upland,'* and
certain personal effects. Under the circumstances,
what could be more appropriate than that the estate
of the victim should settle the bills incurred for the
apprehension and punishment of his assassin?

7 2 "Providence in Colonial Times

The consensus of public opinion was doubtless to
the effect that the resources and ingenuity of the
community had been so sorely taxed in the effort to
deal with the prisoner as befitted the dignity of the
law, that it would be highly inconsiderate to demand
a cash outlay, in addition to the toil and trouble
already undergone. In accordance with this view of
the case, the town ordered that "all ocations of
disburstments concerning John Clawson which have
already benn, or yett shall bee shall be payd out of
the aforsaid John Clawson his Estate . . . and that
the Said , . . Estate shall be desposed on by Tho :
Olney Senior."

The "disburstments" incident to the custody of
so important a criminal were many and unprece-
dented. There was no prison in Providence. In
fact it is doubtful if there was a lock on anything
larger than the lid to a chest. In this emergency, the
blacksmith was called on to provide "irons," with
which the prisoner might be confined. This he did,
at a cost of three shillings and sixpence. With the
criminal thus hampered, and watched day and night
by a guard of stalwart yeomen, at three shillings a
day per man, it was felt that well-meaning and law-
abiding citizens were once more fairly secure. The
town-meeting convened to deal with the matter re-
solved to send the prisoner to Newport, "to the
Collony prison There to be kept until his tyme of
Triall." The matter of transportation thither in-

Williams and Trovidence 7 3

volved, not only the services of a guard and boat's
crew, who were provided with " i pint of liquors to
carry with them in the Boat," and "powder and
Shott to carry along with the prisoner," but also " i
pint of liquors for the young men that lancht the
Boat." Time was money, even in the seventeenth
century, as is proved by the fact that the boatman,
who "waited one day and the prisoner went not,"
received one shilling and sixpence. And in pursuance
of this same illuminating principle, the boy who
went "to find Will Carpenter" was paid a shilling.
The cost of "warning the town about the prisoner"
was three shillings. The landlord of the tavern, or
ordinary, where the prisoner was lodged, brought in
a bill for "house-room." There was also the matter
of funeral expenses. A coffin, nails for the same, and
"2 Drop lines," amounted to five and sixpence. "A
sheete and Bread and Cheese," also "5 pints liquors
for the Buriall," are duly entered among the items
of expenditure. The neighbors who ministered to
the wounded man received in all, £2. 19. o. "Sack
and sugar whilst he lay wounded" was forthcoming
to the amount of seven shillings and threepence. His
debts were paid, and came to thirteen shillings.

As for the prisoner, — whom we have seen
"lancht" on his way to Newport, — deponent
further saith not. There is no record of his arrival
at "the Collony prison," nor of the return of the
guard. In the absence of all definite information

74 ^Providence in Colonial Times

respecting the true culprit and the motive for the
crime, tradition took up the tale. According to this
creditable source of information, a feud existed be-
tween Clawson and his neighbor, Benjamin Hearn-
don. It was Hearndon who lay in wait for his victim
behind the barberry thicket, and felled him with his
broad-axe, — not so quickly, however, but that
Clawson, as he fell, recognized his assailant. When
the efforts of his neighbors had roused him from the
stunned condition in which he was brought home, he
uttered a curse against the Hearndons, wishing that
all of that name might be marked with split chins,
and haunted by barberry bushes. "And," said the
gossips, " every one knows that the Hearndons have
cleft chins to this day."

It was not until June that Thomas Olney, Senior,
was able to bring in his" Accountes . . . concerning
the Estate of John Clawson deceased. What hee
Received in. And what hee paid out." Under the
last-named heading belongs the item, "to my selfe
for disburstments ;^i. ii. 2."

In the mean time, Clawson's personal property
had been carefully inventoried, item by item, by two
painstaking appraisers, one of whom was Thomas
Olney, Junior. Their services were estimated at two
shillings each. The most valuable of Clawson's pos-
sessions was peage, or Indian shell-money, to the
amount oi £,"]. 13. 9. His winter supply of grain,
" 14 Bushells of Corne and Pease," came to £'^. 12. 2.

Document of 1669

.{o'7 ^aisqKM I'-'i' lU 'J 1^ i/l a ii.riignosilj moi'i .alqqiri//
' '"' .-"{toiooS Icohoi^iH bnshi sboxi^ ni ,Qd q .81

**^^-1^#h|| j.

' c

■-c^-r^,

tf>/#^l|1^'::T^_^w

O.!

^:^

p ' ("S*!. ij. ..p ^ >' > < «■• ^ '^ *" "s-^ «;■•■' 0

h^ .'^

■i ^ li^

TVilliams and 'Providence 75

These items, and his kit of carpenter's tools, valued
at £i. 15. 4, very nearly made up the sum total
of the poor man's worldly goods. His twenty-five
acres of upland were set down at £i. lo. o, and the
"howse and Lott" at twenty pounds. His admin-
istrator's balance-sheet shows ^^37. 17. 4 on the
credit side of the account, and expenditures amount-
ing to £i,^. 14. o, "so that there Remaines due unto
Tho: Olney ;^o. 16. 8 : to be paid unto him, by Roger
Williams," the town record concludes.

When the administration of Clawson's personal
property was placed in the hands of the astute
Thomas Olney, Senior, with instructions to "despose
on" it, his real estate was turned over to Roger
Williams, as residuary legatee, so to speak. This
property consisted of "A howse Lott And Also the
Land which Lieth neere unto a Salt Cove." The
Dutchman's "howse & Lott" remained in Roger
Williams's possession until 1669, when he sold them
to Clawson's old neighbor, Benjamin Hearndon, for
"the full Summe of Eleaven pounds of Currant
Countrey pay," to be paid in three yearly instal-
ments of five pounds, three pounds, and three
pounds, respectively. The delivery was to be made
"in Cloth and stockings, and Corne, and Aples, at
the Comon and usuall price." Even under these
conditions, which do not seem extraordinarily severe,
it was not until the spring of 1675 that Hearndon's
debt was cancelled.

7 6 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

Thomas Olney, Senior, who figures so prominently
in the disbursements on account of the Clawson
estate, was a man of considerable local importance in
this early period of the town's history. And as the
years roll by, it will be interesting to watch his
descendants play their parts on an historic stage
presenting a wider field of action. The first Thomas
Olney came to Salem with his wife and children in
1635. Three years later, he was advised to depart
from Massachusetts; and thereupon turned his steps
towards Providence, where he arrived in time to be
enrolled among the thirteen original proprietors. A
few months afterwards he was found among the little
group who formed the Baptist Church, and we are
told by the historian of that denomination that after
Roger Williams's withdrawal, Olney, as first elder,
ministered to that "part of the Church who were
called Five Principle Baptists." He signed the arbi-
tration compact of 1640, although his subsequent
career indicates that his belief in arbitration was
theoretical rather than practical. He carried on the
trade of a shoemaker, as well as that of a tanner, and
was likewise a surveyor of much practical experience,
as the town records abundantly testify.

As a proprietor of Providence, and one of the
group of thirteen, subsequently known as "the
Pawtuxet purchasers," Olney's interest led him to
cooperate with William Harris, in the latter's en-
deavors to carry through his famous land deal so as

JVilliams and Providence 7 7

to bring the additional territory acquired by the con-
firmatory grant of 1659 into the possession of the
Pawtuxet men. Olney's effective knowledge of po-
litical methods was gained by long experience in the
service of both town and colony. It was during the
interim when it seemed probable that the first charter
might be annulled that his preference for the law of
the primitive individual — that "he shall take who
has the power, and he shall keep who can'* — first
found scope for action. In the first General Court of
the reunited colony he was accused of a "risinge or
takinge up of armes to the oposeinge of authority."
Whether this act of overt rebellion had any connec-
tion, direct or indirect, with the treasonable publica-
tion of his partner in the Pawtuxet purchase (William
Harris), we are not told, but there is no doubt that
both of these men, "and others," were implicated in
the charge above specified. The affair is described in
the town records as "a tumult and disturbance in the
winter under a pretence of voluntarie training," con-
cerning which there was "greate debate," at the time
of writing. Through the pacific influence of Roger
Williams, who acted as moderator in more than the
technical sense of the word, "it was at last concluded
. . . that for the Colony's sake . . . and for the
publike union and peace sake it should be past By
and no more mentioned."

"Union and Peace" served Roger Williams as a
sufficient motive to ignore the past when dealing with

7 8 "Providence in Colonial Times

a breach of law and order in the Towne Street, but a
bit of legal trickery, amounting to nothing less than a
land-grabbing scheme at the expense of the ignorant
Indians who had trusted him and his friends, was to
him an infamous wrong which cried aloud for justice,
and which he was bound to oppose to the utmost
extent of his ability. Backed by his townsmen,
Gregory Dexter and Arthur Fenner, he so far suc-
ceeded in thwarting the combination led by Harris,
in the proprietary interest, as to defeat every attempt
to set off the town of Pawtuxet from that of Provi-
dence. Until this was done, the newly acquired lands
could not be divided among the Pawtuxet purchas-
ers, since the two settlements formed one township.

Gregory Dexter, who was formerly a stationer and
printer of London, had been given a proprietor's lot
on the Towne Street, at the extreme north end. He
did not arrive at the settlement until 1640. Roger
Williams's characterization of him as "a man of
education, and of a noble calling, and versed in mili-
taries," who "might well be moderator or general
deputy or general assistant," but who "made a fool
of conscience," is well known. That same eminent
authority speaks of him elsewhere as "an intelligent
man . . . and conscionable (though a Baptist)
therefore maligned and traduced by William Harris
... he hath a lusty team and lusty sons, and very
willing heart (being a sanguine cheerful man)." He
was not without rhetorical powers, and we are told

TVilliams and "Providence 79

that he was a preacher before he came to America ;
nor was he wanting in political ability.

When acting as town-clerk, in 1653, Dexter exer-
cised his literary gifts in the composition of a treatise
entitled "An Instrument, or soveraign Plaister, to
heale the many fold presant soares in this Towne or
plantation of providence, wch do arise about our
lands," and took advantage of his official position
as keeper of the town records to insert this forcible
statement of his views in their pages. In 1667, the
document in question was gravely presented to a
town-meeting, convened by the Fenner-Dexter
faction, and solemnly ordered to be placed on the
town records, — its unauthorized abiding-place for
the previous fourteen years. The "Plaister" was
promptly pronounced to be "poysonous" by Harris
and his friends, and the author to be an " active lead-
ing Instruement " whose "underminings," as also
those of Roger Williams and Arthur Fenner, are
"breefly discovered" in a "declaration" of about
two thousand words. A counterblast of indignant
eloquence stigmatizes Harris's statement as a "noto-
rious Slander," and the writer as one "who loveth
strife."

In Arthur Fenner the Williams contingent poss-
essed a shrewd and practical ally, whose words were
few, and whose deeds bear out the above assertion.
He was the eldest of three brothers, who are said to
have been the sons of a Connecticut Indian trader.

8o ^Providence in Colonial Times

They came to Providence in or near 1647. Tradition
credits Arthur Fenner with a lieutenant's commission
in Cromwell's army, and there is little doubt that he
had seen military service somewhere on the other
side of the Atlantic. The display of military qualifi-
cations was not frequently required in his new home,
but his decision of character and promptitude in
action, not unmixed with a fair share of strategic
ability, were quite as valuable assets in the colony's
balance-sheet. In the time of King Philip's War he
became Captain Arthur Fenner. Although he built
a house on Providence Neck, on the property long
known as "the Fenner estate," on the present Gov-
ernor Street, his dwelling-place, for the greater part
of the time while he lived in Providence, was on the
west side of the Great Salt River. This "farm in the
woods" was built, probably, in 1655, and stood in
the present suburb of Cranston.

Matters regarding the Pawtuxet purchase tended
slowly, and by no means peacefully, towards a crisis.
A suit against the town of Warwick, followed by a
rehearing, and that, in turn, by an action for trespass
against a certain John Harrud, filled the colony
courts with litigation ; while a series of wrangles over
the question of the dividing-line between Providence
and Pawtuxet absorbed the time and energy of every
town-meeting. At length Harris went to England,
and obtained an order for a special court to try the
case. The court sat in 1677, and gave a verdict in

JVilliams and ^Providence 8 1

Harris's favor. But the execution of that same ver-
dict depended on Arthur Fenner, who was appointed
to run the line of division between Providence and
Pawtuxet. This he did, and so adroitly as to give to
the Pawtuxet men precisely what they had been en-
titled to before the additional grants of 1659 were
obtained.

The inevitable rehearing followed. Again Harris
journeyed to London, and again he was successful.
But when the time came for taking possession of the
coveted territory, unforeseen obstacles and uncertain
interpretations obliged the intrepid "purchaser" to
cross the ocean a third time. This last unhappy
voyage resulted in the loss of his cause, and ulti-
mately of his life as well. The ship in which he sailed
was taken by the Barbary pirates, her passengers
were carried to Algiers, and there sold as slaves, to
be held for ransom. The necessary sum was raised,
but not until after a delay which reflected little credit
on Harris's family, in the eyes of their contempo-
raries. Francis Brinley wrote from Newport to Mrs.
Harris: "You and yours lie under the hard thoughts
of many . . . by your refusing to comply with those
that were stirred up to lay down their monies for that
end." After a captivity of about a year, the ransom
was paid, and the aged sufferer — then over seventy
— set free. It was too late. The poor man was
broken down by age and harsh treatment, and died
within a few days of his arrival in London.

8 2 "Providence in Colonial Times

After the disappearance of William Harris from
the scene of action, the cause of the Pawtuxet pur-
chasers died a natural death. At various times dur-
ing the next twenty years petitions were brought to
the notice of the Crown and its representatives, but
• no further action was taken in the matter. The words
of the colony's agent, in 1705, state the condition
of affairs symbolically, yet tersely. He says : " My
lawyer tells me that he fears it [a new preparation of
the case] will be like dressing a cowcumber with
oyle and vinegar, pepper and salt, and then throwing
it upon the dunghill. That is to say, he doubts that
when you have done all, the great length of time that
this case has been depending (about 47 years) will be
a stumbling block in your way never to be got over."

Long before the eighteenth century set in, matters
had amicably adjusted themselves on the Towne
Street of Providence. The valiant Captain Arthur
had "tamed his heart of fire," and placed his chast-
ened affections in the safe keeping of Howlong
Harris, the daughter of the tenacious William, while
the co-worker of Harris, the redoubtable Thomas
Olney, Senior, had married his daughter Lydia to
Joseph, the youngest son of his old antagonist, Roger
Williams.

Howlong Harris was not only a capable and at-
tractive young woman, but from a worldly point of
view she was a match worthy the serious consideration
of any man of thrift and foresight. Nor were there

TVilliams and Trovidence 83

lacking young men of sufficient discernment to be
aware of the fact. In the early summer of 1 68 1, the
banns for her marriage with John Pococke, a lawyer
of Newport, had been published. Evidently the
form of consulting the young lady's parents had been
omitted, for at this point her mother interfered and
forbade the marriage, giving as a reason that she
wished to consult her husband, then absent in Eng-
land, regarding the matter. This stay in the proceed-
ings proved, for some reason which we do not know,
an insurmountable obstacle. Mrs. Harris died in the
following year, but Howlong retained her maiden
freedom until 1684 when she became Arthur Fen-
ner's second wife. Nor did she come to the altar
empty-handed. By her father's "last will and testa-
ment," drawn up just before his departure for Eng-
land, his daughter Howlong was given one third of
his farm of seven hundred acres, with meadows
"thereto adjoyneing," and the prospect of another
portion of the estate, on the death of her mother. The
inventory of the testator's personal effects displays
to us every article contained in the house and out-
buildings. Nothing seems too trivial to engage the
attention of the appraisers. If an object is of no
value, that fact is formally stated, as " Severall refuse
paper bookes not worth valluing."

The farm of William Harris, one of the few well-
to-do citizens of Providence, was, in 1682, stocked
with two mares and one colt, six steers, three heifers,

84 ^Providence in Colonial Times

two young cows, and one old cow. Farming-tools
were there, to the extent of a plough, a grindstone,
"2 old broad hoes, and one Narrow hoe," two shov-
els, and a spade. "Severall Stacks of hay Standing
by the Meadow Side" form one of the larger items.
The house furnishings were numerous and varied.
Beds, bedsteads, and bedding are carefully desig-
nated, "i Feather Bedd, and Bolster" was valued
at £\. " I Feather bedd and a bolster, old and much
worne," £\. 5. o. It must have been a stirring house-
hold, with little expectation of visitors, for in the
entire dwelling there were but two chairs. A " settle
Bedd studd" is mentioned as being "in the cellar,"
where we must suppose it would hardly serve for
sitting accommodation. Perhaps the various chests,
one "with a lock upon it," one described as "A little
old sea Chest," and one "Coulered black," were
pressed into service as the occasion demanded.

That centre of household activity, the kitchen,
fared better. "2 Brasse Kettles, i old Brasse Kettle,
A Copper porenger, one Iron Kettle, i fryeing pann,"
tongs, bellows, candlesticks, tubs, and pails are
found. The table was set forth with wooden platters,
trenchers, bowls, bottles, ladles, and spoons. Pewter
was there, but not in profusion, "i Earthen Pann"
and "a Tinn pudding pan" appear. Drinks were
served in a great variety of receptacles, whatever may
be said of the beverages themselves, "i pewter
pottle pott, I wine quart pott, i Tanker quart pott,

Petition drawn by William Harris, September

17, 1677, DIRECTED TO GoV. JOSIAH WiNSLOW

From original in Harris Papers, p. 91, in Rhode Island
Historical Society.

/luiTiTa I
;3:?^9i^ ifii-or i s chests,

Mil A

j-i

r? H

^ lei' p x^

^4<

li ^

Williams and Trovidence 85

I Tanker pint pott without a lidd, i old wine pint
pot, I wine halfe pint pot, i Gill pot, and a half Gill
pot, and 6 Glasse bottles," and a second "pewter
pottle pott" would certainly suffice to dispense the
"2 barrills of winter Sidar," and the "2 barrills of
summer Sidar" which stocked the wine-cellar.

The really noteworthy item is, however, the books
which belonged to Harris. He owned twenty-six
volumes, and of these, eleven are works treating of
law. Several are religious in tone, and others are
distinctly secular. We find The Gentleman jocky
elbowing The Gospell preacher, while Norwoods
Tryangles stands side by side with The Chirurgions
Mate. It is evidently the library of a self-taught man,
prone to litigation, who finds no nut too hard to yield
to his cracking. The above is a collection of books
unequalled in the Providence of that day. The entire
personal estate was appraised at £1/^7. 12. 8. We
may express its value in terms of " current country
pay" by saying that it would purchase seventy-four
head of cattle, or as many horses. The landed
property estimated by the assessors' price-list for
1679 was worth from three to four pounds an acre.

Thomas Olney, Senior, whose daughter married
Joseph Williams, died in 1682. His legacy to his son-
in-law consisted of "all my part in the yoake of oxen
which is now betweene us." The remaining cattle,
together with his "moveable goods," were to be
"Equally devided into 3 parts," of which "Liddea

86 ^Providence in Colonial Times

Williams" was to receive one. The remaining cattle
appear to be represented by "4 Cowes, in the de-
ceased Tho: Olneys yard," valued at ten pounds.
His house contained a parlor, kitchen, hall chamber,
and "old bed room," but since the parlor furniture
included, in addition to a varied assortment of bed-
room and kitchen articles, "3 Cart boxes, i lince pinn
and a washer," we may judge that it was so called
by courtesy, rather than from usage. Since Olney
followed the trade of a tanner, we are not surprised
to find a large part of his "moveable" estate under
the item "Dryhides in all the places where they lye."
Among his household furniture were "2 old joynt
Chaires, and a joynt stoole, i Create Chaire, i smale
Table," one pair of tongs, and one of "And Irons."
His stock of glassware was not inconsiderable for
that day. He had " i quart Glasse bottle, a halfe
pint Glasse bottle and a Cann," and "3 Square
bottles." He also possessed an assortment of brass
and iron kettles, brass candlesticks, pewter pots,
platters, spoons, and cups, a goodly supply of bed
linen, and a creditable number of "Table Cloaths"
and napkins. Besides "one Bible," and "3 old peeces
of Bibles," his library was comprised in " 3 Bookes
namely Ainsworths Annotations, A Concordance,
& fishers Ashford Dispute.^' His entire estate
amounted tO;^78. 9. 5. "If no mistake be in Casting
up," wrote the cautious appraisers.

In the midst of the "terrible burning fits," which.

JVilliams and Providence 87

said Roger Williams, set Providence "all on fire . . .
about our Lines," there befell the tragedy of King
Philip's War. The scourge swept through the settle-
ments of Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut,
nor did Rhode Island escape. Comparatively few of
her settlers lost their lives, but great damage was
done to their farms and cattle. Warwick was burned,
and a large part of Providence destroyed. Philip (or
Metacomet) became sachem of the Wampanoags on
the death of his brother, Alexander, in 1662. What-
ever traditional ideas of revenge for his brother's
death, or of driving the white man from his path,
may ultimately have animated him, the first nine
years of his ascendancy were chiefly remarkable for
the rapidity with which he sold ofif the lands of his
tribe to any town, or individual, able and willing to
furnish coats, hoes, beads, jew's-harps, guns, ammu-
nition, and rum, in return. In 1667, the war with
Holland brought unusually large supplies of arms
and ammunition into the country, of which the In-
dians doubtless obtained a fair proportion, and con-
sequently "their activity and insolence is grown so
high," says Roger Williams, writing to the Court of
Magistrates at Boston, " that they daily consult, and
hope, and threaten to render us slaves."

From the above date to 1675, when hostilities actu-
ally broke out, matters were in a state of slow fer-
mentation. "Honest John Easton" succinctly de-
scribes the situation : " So the English were afraid and

88 "Providence in Colonial Times

Philip was afraid, and both increased in Arms." In
the latter part of June, 1675, Philip and his braves
burned a few houses at Swansea, in the Plymouth
Colony, and then retreated northward before the
English soldiery, to the town of Mendon. In Sep-
tember, Deerfield was destroyed, and a series of
raids on the towns of the Connecticut Valley went on
during the fall months. Early in the summer, efforts
had been made by Massachusetts, through Roger
Williams, to induce the Narragansets to sign a treaty
which should deprive the Wampanoags of the sup-
port of that powerful tribe, now well provided with
firearms, and numbering two thousand fighting men
under the leadership of Canochet, the son of Roger
Williams's old friend, Miantonomi.

Friendly protestations were readily obtained, and
in profusion, but the summer was half over before
anything in the way of a treaty was forthcoming.
Such as it was, the document bore the signatures of
men of small importance, whose act would have
little weight with the warriors of the tribe. William
Harris has given an account of the attitude of the
Narragansets at this time. He says that Philip's men
took refuge with the Narragansets, who ''entered
into articles to deliver phillips men . . . but did
not"; that on the contrary, they "made large pre-
tences of peace, intending nothing less; but they
thought they should by a sudden war lose theyr har-
vest; that then it would soone disable them to con-

Williams and Frovidence 89

tinew the war." Once the harvest gathered, and laid
away in the secret storehouses, underground, the In-
dians would have ample provision for the winter, and
could be let loose over the country as soon as the
snows should have disappeared.

At all events, this was the reasoning of the English
colonists, and acting thereon, the combined forces of
Plymouth, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, together
with a few Rhode-Island men, rendezvoused at
Tower Hill (in the present South Kingston) one bit-
terly cold December night. " It frose that night very
hard," writes Harris. From Tower Hill the little
army marched to surprise the ancient Narraganset
stronghold, some three or four miles distant. This
well-known monument of Indian engineering skill
was situated in the middle of a large swamp, which
was in itself the most formidable of the defences of
the fort. The surface of the swamp was frozen hard
by the severe frost, and the English found the fort in
the centre far from unassailable. It was not cap-
tured, however, without considerable sharp fighting.
Harris says : " The English shewed very much Val-
lour; runing up to the mussells of the guns and to
theyr porte holes ; firing into theyr forte, leaping over
theyr brestworkes, and into theyr fort, turning the
but ends of theyr guns sometimes." A large number
of Indians — perhaps one hundred and fifty — were
killed in the fight, and probably three times as many
were made prisoners. In the words of the estimable

90 "Providence in Colonial Times

Doctor Increase Mather, there were "two and sev-
enty Indian Captains slain, all of them, and brought
down to Hell in one day." Sixty-eight of the English
were killed, and one hundred and fifty wounded.

Probably the effective force of the Narragansets was
not seriously crippled. The moral efi^ect was no doubt
great, and the loss of their carefully stored provisions
was a very grave misfortune. Many of the Indian
granaries in the Narraganset country were, after the
fight, discovered and destroyed, and their owners
must have suffered much from lack of food. Never-
theless, their retaliatory measures made the following
year a stirring time for their English neighbors. All
pretence of adherence to treaty obligations vanished
with the smoke of the ruined stronghold. Harris says
that after this time "many mischeifs were done upon
many townes of the massachusetts, to the los of many
soules."

When the Narragansets, the traditional friends of
the Providence Plantation, went on the war path,
the colony of Rhode Island was obliged to face a pe-
culiarly exposed position. Not only had the long
and unbroken peace with the Indians precluded all
necessity for that unsleeping watchfulness, ever on
the lookout for an unexpected onslaught, which
characterized the life of many New-England settle-
ments ; the very government of the colony of Rhode
Island, with its command of resources and authority
to act in emergencies, had recently passed into the

Willi ams and Trovidence 9 ^

hands of men whose rehgious creed expHcitly forbade
them "to trayne, to learne to fight, to war, or to kill
any person or persons." Only three years earlier the
Quaker Assembly had put their principles on record
in the above words. True, it was permitted to "all
those who are perswaded in their understanding and
conscience, that it is lawfull and noe sin againstGod,
to kill," etc., to do the same, but drastic preparatory
measures to ward off an Indian attack could hardly
be expected from such a legislative body, the major-
ity of whose propertied members were housed in
comparative safety on the island of Aquidneck.

The question of defence was mooted as early as
the fall preceding the Great Swamp Fight, near
Tower Hill. "The dangerous hurries with the Indi-
ans," and the necessity for putting the colony " in a
suitable posture of defence" were discussed, and the
Assembly decided to "referr the consideration and
conclusion of the matter unto the Councillof Warr in
each Towne." Then came a lull, broken by the fight
of December 19, with its disastrous consequences.
In January, the Indians raided Pawtuxet, where
they did much damage, burning corn and hay, and
driving off sheep, cattle, and horses. In this raid the
youngest son of William Harris — Toleration Harris
— was killed. The father mourned him long and
deeply. In his last will he left instructions that his
farm should "be called Mourning, as a monument of
the death of my deare son Tolleration Harris." In

92 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

his account of the war, already quoted, he says: "I
have lost a deer son; a dilligent engenious Just man;
temperate in all things, whom the Indians lay in wait
for by the way syd and killed him, and a negro man,
and burnt our houses, and drove away aboute 50
head of Cowkind cattell, and 4 score horsekinde of
ours, and carryed away some goods, and burnt about
50 loads of hay."

Shortly after the Swamp Fight the troops of the
united colonies were withdrawn from the Narra-
ganset country, leaving a garrison of seventy men
in a block-house of our old acquaintance, Richard
Smith, the Indian trader. Their stay was of short
duration. The Council at Boston decided on their
withdrawal, and a letter written at Boston, in the
following July, narrates that "the very next Day
after their Departure, the Indians came and burnt
the said Garrison-house (one of the most delightful
Seats in New-England) and another House of the
said Captain Smiths at Saugau [near Wickford,
where Roger Williams often stayed] . . . and the
Day following assulted Warwick with so unhappy a
Successe that they burnt most of the Houses there."
We can appreciate Richard Smith's reflections when
he wrote: "We are nowe governed by Mens Wills
and most of them Quakers, and of such and worse
does Rhode Island consist."

The apprehensions of the Providence settlers had
been aroused long before the "unhappy success"

JVilliams and Providence 93

just related. In the preceding October the Provi-
dence town-meeting was sufficiently alive to the
uncertainties of the situation to order that a recon-
noitring force of six men should be " sentt out of the
town Every day to discover what Indeanes shal come
to disquiat the towne." This action was almost
simultaneous with the advice tendered by the Gen-
eral Assembly to the towns of the colony, namely,
that they should protect themselves.

As we should expect, such evidence as exists re-
specting defensive operations on the part of Provi-
dence indicates that they were initiated by Roger
Williams. Notwithstanding his age and failing
health, he held the position of captain of the " Traine
Band," and we may rest assured it was no sinecure.
The following letter is undated, but we can hardly
err in ascribing to it a date shortly following the raids
in the Pawtuxet Valley. The letter runs : " I pray the
town, in the sense of the late bloody practices of the
natives, to give leave to so many as can agree with
William Field, to bestow some charge upon fortifying
his house, for the security of the women and children.
Also to give me leave, to put up some defence on the
hill, between the mill and the highway, for the like
safety of the women and children in that part of the
town." William Field's house stood on his home
lot, a little south of the present Great Bridge. It
was fortified, doubtless after a primitive sort of
fashion, and served as a refuge for the handful of

94 Providence in Colonial Times

townsmen who eventually awaited the onslaught
of the savages.

By March, an attack appeared so imminent, and
the ability to resist it so insufficient, that those in
authority, led by Cromwell's former man-at-arms,
Arthur Fenner, addressed an indignant and stirring
remonstrance to the colonial executive at Newport.
The remonstrance is lost, but the answer thereto
gives a sufficiently clear idea of the tone of its con-
tents. "Captain Fenner with the Rest concerned,"
the reply begins, "I thought good to present you
with my Informatione of your evell Suggestions
Concerning us in authority Espetially myselfe (as if
not worthy to live) " ; and from this premise the writer
goes on to set forth his view of the case. In the first
place, had a relieving force been sent to Providence,
the expenses of their armament and maintenance
"would have Eaten you and us quite up "; secondly,
the town of Providence had been especially exempted
from the colony taxes, "partly for the Ende you
might have Relief and to deale plainly with you, wee
are not of ability to keepe Soldiers under paye,
having not provisions, as bread (neither are you)."
Under these circumstances the advice of the governor
was to secure whatever was possible, "and what you
Cannot Secure, is best to be transported hither for
Security," he concludes.

This missive was written on March 28, and on
the following day the Indians attacked Providence.

TVilliams and Trovidence 95

Twenty-nine houses were plundered and burned.
The greater part of the town's population of, perhaps,
five hundred had withdrawn to the island of Rhode
Island, in accordance with the advice of the General
Assembly, as being "the most secureist place."
They were to be provided with farming land, so far
as practicable, and with grazing rights for their cows,
if they were so exceedingly fortunate as to have any.
The inhabitants of Warwick moved en masse, a pro-
ceeding which ceases to appear extraordinary when
we read that Warwick was "all of it burned by the
enemy at several times." The historian who is re-
sponsible for this statement also informs us that
"Pawtuxet had twelve houses burned in March
1676," and Providence had "eighteen houses burned
in June 1675." These last were outlying farmhouses,
situated very much as was that of Arthur Fenner,
which made one of the eighteen mentioned.

Twenty-seven of the men of Providence, includ-
ing Roger Williams, "staid and went not away."
Backus, in his History of the Baptists, gives the
following account of the approach of the Indians.
"Tradition says, that when the Indians appeared on
the highlands north of their great cove, Mr. Williams
took his staff and walked over towards them, hoping
likely to pacify them as he had often done ; but when
some of their aged men saw him, they came out and
met him, and told him that though those who had
long known him would not hurt him, yet their young

9 6 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

men were so enraged that it was not safe for him to
venture among them ; upon which he returned to the
garrison." A few weeks later he wrote to the Gov-
ernor of Massachusetts; "their Houses here, their
Forts, their Fences [are] burnt up, and much if not
most of their Cattel destroyed."

Probably the damage which is most deeply felt
by posterity is that sustained by the town records.
Tradition tells us that they were actually in flames,
and were only saved from destruction by being
thrown into the mill-pond. The tale is accredited by
ample evidence, and the fact accounts for much of
the astonishingly incoherent state in which they are
preserved. Such parts of the records as were entirely
lost were supplied, so far as might be, from memory.
If the exact date of an event was uncertain, an ap-
proximate date was filled in, as the best substitute
available. The town-records were, at the best, kept
very much as the individual idiosyncracies of the
acting town-clerk might dictate. Town-meetings
were entered at one end of a book, and deeds of land
conveyances at the other. Sometimes both sides of
a page were used, frequently they were not. In the
latter case, the two subjects slid by one another, —
so to speak, — and as a result of this novel system of
double-entry we may read on page 105 (numbering
from the beginning of the volume) the first part of
the record of certain transactions in land, which are
finished on page 1 1 because the reverse side of the

"Mark" of King Philip

Affixed to a deed of 1659. From original in Rhode
Island Historical Society.

« > . V ^^ ^

K^ /V'^i s^i ?j% m

\v-^rr^ ^ H 111 ?

V«\! ^

JVilliams and "Providence 97

pages is numbered from the end of the book. Page
17 is devoted to the sales and transfers of 1648, while
page 1 8 deals with those of ten years later. It is not
surprising that in 1655 the town voted to have "the
Progresse of the Lawes in use that formerly were in a
Loose Paper . . . written in the Booke." Part of the
disorder above described has arisen from careless
rebinding, further confounding what was already
confused.

One more quotation from William Harris may
serve to close the episode of King Philip's War. He
writes: "Just now news is brought that this 12th of
August early in the morneing phillip was Slayne in
a swamp within a mile of mount hope and about a
mile and a half from Rhode Island." His cause was
already lost, and his fate was enviable compared
with that of his companions in arms and their fami-
lies. These poor wretches were sold into servitude
among the colonists for terms of years, varying with
the age of the prisoner. The prisoners of war were at
first a source of embarrassment, rather than wealth,
to the good people of Providence, where adequate
facilities for disposing of an assemblage of presum-
ably hostile Indians were sadly lacking. Hence the
record of August 29, " By God's Providence it sea-
sonably came to passe that Providence Williams
brought up his mother from Newport, in his sloop and
cleared the Towne by his vessel of all the Indians to
the great peace and Content of all the Inhabitants."

9 8 "Providence in Colonial Times

The Quaker government at Newport underwent
considerable modification during the progress of the
war. As Backus says, "finding their spiritual power
would not secure them against the Indians, they gave
out military commissions." On the well-known prin-
ciple of locking the stable door after the horse is
stolen, John Cranston was appointed colony-major,
on April ii, 1676. In May, Cranston became
deputy-governor of the colony, and under his leader-
ship really effective measures were taken for the
security of the mainland. A garrison, "consistinge of
seven men with a commander, which shall make up
eight" was "settled" at Providence, to be "the
King's garrison," with Arthur Fenner as " chiefe
Commander, not eclipsinge Captain Williams power
in the exercise of the Traine Band there." And
moreover "one great gun" was ordered "to be sent
to Providence, for the garrison," with fifty pounds of
powder and one hundredweight of lead; "which said
powder and lead is not to be embezzled, but kept
for a reserve against a time of need, to repulse the
enemy." This garrison was to be paid by the colony,
hence the less need for the "embezzlement" of pow-
der and lead. The men remained under arms until
October, when they were withdrawn, for after the
death of Philip the stamping-out of the smouldering
embers of insurrection was a matter of but few weeks.

Although Philip was not an especially attractive
personage on the stage of history he has figured

TVilliams and Vrovidence 99

rather prominently as a hero in fiction. Several
dramas have been devoted to the tale of his varying
fortunes and tragic end. One of these was written
for an actor of no less note than Edwin Forrest, and a
burlesque of this play was at one time a favorite on
the Boston stage.

Canonchet, the youthful sachem of the Narra-
ganset Indians, who was captured and shot in the
April of 1676, has been portrayed by that master-
painter of pioneer woodcraft and seacraft, J. Feni-
more Cooper, in his novel The Wept of Wish-ton-
Wish.

Chapter IV

THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

FROM the beginning, the social and poUtical
Hfe of Providence was modified by condi-
tions pecuHar, among English-speaking set-
tlements, to this colony alone. The "first-comers"
brought to their self-appointed task of "planting"
on the banks of the Moshassuc an unbounded supply
of religious zeal, together with an extremely limited
supply of this world's goods.

The pioneer community was made up of men who
appeared on the scene almost at haphazard, the great
majority of whom were restive of all control, and
insubordinate on the slightest provocation. Those
who could not live in peace with their neighbors
elsewhere, came to Providence, where they speedily
claimed the privilege of "declaring their minds"
concerning their temporal condition and environ-
ment, as well as concerning "a state of eternal
salvation."

The situation of Providence was admirably
adapted for a great commercial centre, but man does
not live by geography alone, and there was for many
a long year an absolute dearth of articles of export.

The light and sandy soil barely yielded sufficient
crops for the farmers and their families. The country

The Seventeenth Century i o

was wooded, but no one had capital to invest in the
lumber trade. In the eyes of their Connecticut and
Massachusetts neighbors, the men of Providence
were outcasts, who had no claim to help from their
self-righteous countrymen, even in the way of trade.
They were pitch, and to touch was to be defiled.

Accordingly our colonists turned, perforce, to
the more worldly Dutchmen of the " Manhattoes."
These shrewd traders were soon blithely trudging
over the Pequod Path, bringing hoes, guns, and
powder, together with coats, beads, and looking-
glasses for the Indian trade. Presently Dutch sloops
crept through the Sound and up Narragansett Bay,
to land cargoes of rum, wine, sack, and spirits, in
quantities far beyond the needs of the colonists, and
sufficient to supply the demands of the entire tribe of
the Narragansets. The liquor excise soon became a
profitable source of revenue. There was no wealth,
and but little education among the first settlers.
Their religious enthusiasm was controversial rather
than altruistic. With very little church organization
there was a great deal of doctrinal exposition. Reli-
gious creeds were so numerous and so varied that
Cotton Mather asserted that if ever a man had mis-
laid his religion, he could be sure of finding it some-
where in Rhode Island. The "soul liberty" of the
Providence Plantation doubtless worked for good,
but it most certainly did not work for unity. In 165 1,
William Arnold, of Pawtuxet, put his views on record

I02 "Providence in Colonial Times

to the effect, that "under pretence of liberty of con-
science about these parts, there comes to Hve all the
scum, the runaways of the country, which, in time,
for want of a better order, may bring a heavy bur-
then upon the land."

Such cohesion as existed in this concourse of
"loving friends and neighbors" was that of a com-
mon economic interest. Each townsman was, by
virtue of being such, a landed proprietor, — a privi-
lege dear to the heart of every Englishman, and
doubly dear in this instance, since land was the only
form of wealth attainable. A scholar of keen insight
has said that in no settlement on the continent of
America did land play so important a part as in
Providence. This state of things arose from the fact
that their lands represented for the settlers of Provi-
dence their one common interest. The church, which
was the social and political centre of the normal
Anglo-Saxon settlement of the seventeenth century,
was in Providence a dividing — not a connecting —
influence. Of course the money value of land in the
colony was at first very small ; it was pitiably small,
when we consider the "disputations" and "agita-
tions" which its division engendered and fostered.
In 1650 it was decreed that "all men received" into
the town should pay one shilling per acre for their
home share of land, and sixpence per acre for the
remainder of their grant, which should not exceed
twenty-five acres.

The Seventeenth Century 103

The source from which the townspeople hoped to
realize their dreams of future wealth was the undi-
vided lands. When, in 1658, Massachusetts aban-
doned her claim to exercise jurisdiction over the
Pawtuxet lands, the proprietors of Providence began
to bestir themselves. The most fertile lands of their
plantation were thereby restored to them, as if by a
miracle, from out the very hand of the acquisitive
Bay Colony. They at once obtained permission from
the General Assembly to purchase more land from
the Indians ("seeing they are straytened"), and to
clear off the Indians from the land already pur-
chased. The consummation of this Pawtuxet pur-
chase was quickly followed by the laying-down of
the Twenty-Mile Line "up into the Countrey," to
the west of "Foxes Hill." Then arose anxious in-
quiries as to the number of purchasers, or proprie-
tors, who might safely be permitted to share in the
real estate of the plantation, "allowing a sufficient
quantity of commoning." After three years more of
the "headiness, tumults and disorders" against
which Sir Henry Vane had warned the colony, with
that frankness universally recognized as the touch-
stone of true friendship, the existing proprietors
carried their point. It was voted that " there shall
not be any more people accommodated with land as
Purchasers within the bounds of this towne ; and that
this order be not repealed without the full consent of
the whole number of the Purchasers."

I04 "Providence in Colonial Times

In other words, the proprietors, one hundred and
one in number, proposed to keep the entire undi-
vided land of the township in their own possession,
with the exception of such portions as had already
been declared common ; and not without the unani-
mous consent of their little oligarchy could the land-
less man be admitted within their charmed circle. A
proprietor might sell his right, or any part of it. For
example, he might sell his house lot, or his six-acre
lot, or any portion of the land which he held by virtue
of his right, and such sales were matters of everyday
occurrence. After 1663, however, the number of
purchasers' rights actually in existence could not
be added to without the expressed consent of every
member of the corporation. And surely he must be
an individual of sanguine temperament and hopeful
disposition who should cherish any pronounced
expectation of inducing one hundred and one vig-
orous and self-respecting Rhode-Islanders to hold
identical views on any subject — even were no
question of property rights involved.

The freemen of the town, in their turn, held jeal-
ously to their privileges, refusing to allow a new-
comer to reside within their boundaries unless he was
first approved by the vote of a town-meeting. He
must have recourse to that same august assembly
for permission to buy that land which would alone
entitle him to the rights and obligations of a citizen in
good and regular standing. At a very early date in

The Seventeenth Century 105

the history of the plantation it became necessary for
the "distressed of conscience " to satisfy the good
people of Providence that he was able and willing to
provide for his own maintenance before he was per-
mitted to taste of the "sweet cup of liberty" in their
fellowship. He might safely be trusted to work out
his own salvation, but he must furnish a practical
guaranty of his ability to provide bed and board for
himself and family.

Land was the only form of invested wealth avail-
able; hence, the newcomer must purchase land,
having first obtained from the town-meeting per-
mission to do so. Nor was the limitation felt as a
hardship until the eighteenth century was drawing to
its close. Land was the great desideratum, it is true,
but land was abundant, and so cheap as to be within
easy reach of every able-bodied and industrious
pioneer. Meadow-land must have been in great
demand, since by far the chief source of the wealth
of the townsmen lay in their herds of swine and goats.
As early as 1648, the town records make mention of
" 14 head of Cattle," which would seem to imply
cows or oxen rather than goats or swine ; and there is
evidence that "cowkind" appeared on the scene at
an even earlier date. In 1650 a "pound" is desig-
nated as the appropriate place for such "Cattle" as
a man might find "in his own Corne." The town
pound was on the highway described as being just
north of "the house and house lot" of Robert Coles,

io6 Trovidence in Colonial Times

that is, on the present Meeting Street, which thus
entered on its career as the abiding-place of various
forms of incarceration. At a later day in the colony's
history a jail succeeded the pound, and a school-
house has long since succeeded the jail.

A rather curious episode, which took place in
Warwick in 1651, throws light on several aspects of
colonial life. We are shown the wayfaring Dutch
trader, the hospitality of the English farmer, and
the apparently limitless field of action of the town-
meeting. John Warner, formerly "a citizen and
freeman of London," was one of the ten men who
purchased Warwick, where he settled as a farmer, —
probably not far from that well-known thoroughfare,
the Pequod Path. In 165 1 he had occasion to bring in
a bill to some Dutch traders who had made his house
their headquarters for some two months of the win-
ter. He had stored their goods, provided good fires
so that "16 (horse cart) Load of wood . . . was
burned spedely," and "diet as good as the time of the
yeere offored," — namely, pork, bacon, roots, but-
ter, and cheese, while "every roome in the house
upon ocations was at there servise." For these ac-
commodations he charged them thirteenpence apiece,
per day. As thus stated the price seems far from
excessive, yet the Dutchmen protested loudly, and
worthy Mr. Warner found himself obliged to appeal
to the town for help to collect the debt.

No doubt much might be said on both sides, and

The Seventeenth Century 107

when we recall the fact that home shares were valued
at twelvepence per acre, and other land at sixpence,
we shall perhaps appreciate better the debtor's point
of view. Seven years later, the town paid Roger
Mowry, who kept "the ordinary," one and sixpence
"for this dales fireing and house roome." There is no
evidence of any especial rise in prices since 1651, and
we are, on the whole, inclined to regret that John
Warner did not succeed in making good his claim,
and pocketing his thirteen pence per day. So far
was this from being the outcome of the affair that
the unfortunate Warner only succeeded in arousing
the enmity of practically the entire town of Warwick.
His case must have been prosecuted with vigor,
rather than discretion, for when it was duly brought
up in the town-meeting he was there charged with
three heinous offences against law and order: (i)
with calling the officers in the town rogues and
thieves with respect to their office, (2) with calling the
whole town of Warwick rogues and thieves, (3) with
threatening the lives of men, etc. For these misde-
meanors he was forbidden to vote, and declared
ineligible for any office until he had given the town
satisfaction.

This ultimatum was pronounced in April, and in
May the irate Warner shook the dust of the town
from his shoes and returned to England with his
family. He had married the daughter of Ezekiel
Holliman, of Providence, the same who baptized

io8 "Providence in Colonial Times

Roger Williams at the time of the formation of
the Baptist church. HoUiman wished to make his
grandson, John Warner, his heir, and at his request
the boy came back to the colony, where, in 1670, he
married Ann Gorton, the daughter of the eloquent
and turbulent author of Simplicitie^s Defence. It is
not perhaps an occasion for unqualified astonishment
when we discover that John and Ann Warner failed
to adjust amicably all their differences of opinion.
If John inherited his father's pugnacity, and Ann her
father's talent for rhetorical vituperation, imagina-
tion can without difficulty supply an explanation for
the appearance of Ann Warner before the General
Assembly of 1683, to ask for a divorce. The court
declared a separation, and that John Warner should
"put over" part of his estate for the maintenance of
his wife and children. Notwithstanding this stormy
episode in his career, John Warner appears to have
been a respected citizen of his native town, where he
spent a long and useful life.

By 1675, when the Indian war broke out, there
were probably some twenty or twenty-five houses
standing on the Towne Street of Providence. The
greater part of these were at the north end where the
grist-mill and saw-mill were situated. A little dis-
tance to the north of these centres of the town's in-
dustrial activity was the "ordinary," or tavern, of
Roger Mowry, where town-meetings were often
held, and where the Indian prisoner who was sus-

The Seventeenth Century 109

pected of murdering John Clawson was so vigilantly
guarded.

As early as 1654, the General Assembly, moved
probably by the wish to place liquor-selling under
some sort of restraint, desired each town to " forth-
with apoynt or licence one or two howses for the
entertainment of strangers," and "to encourage"
such enterprising persons as were inclined to take
advantage of this opportunity to engage in the hotel
business; "all others" were forbidden to retail
"either wine, beer, or strong hquors," under a pen-
alty of five pounds fine. The extreme severity of the
penalty may well lead us to wonder whether its
exaction was ever seriously contemplated. At all
events, accommodation for the public seemed to lag
behind the needs of this stirring age, for in the fol-
lowing year the Assembly again took up the mat-
ter, and announced that " this Court shall nominate
and apoynt two persons to keepe such houses . . .
in each town," and forthwith promptly nominated
for Providence Roger Mowry and Richard Pray. In
order that strangers — red or white — might not un-
wittingly purchase refreshment from those unau-
thorized to provide the same, the Assembly further
ordered " that each one so apoynted as premised . . .
shall cause to be sett out a convenient signe at the
most perspicuous place of the saide house," and
this was to be done "with all convenient speede."

Roger Mowry came to Providence from Salem,

1 1 o 'Providence in Colonial Times

probably shortly before 1650. His "howse of enter-
tainment," and others similarly equipped for busi-
ness, must have fulfilled the purpose for which they
were "apoynted" not wisely, but too well. For in
1656 the Assembly once more felt called upon to
interpose by an enactment " tliat no howse of enter-
tainment shall suffer any person to tipple after 9 of
the clock at night, except they can give a satisfactory
reason to the Constable or magistrate"; furthermore,
the constable was to proceed on the spot, and without
process of law, to collect a fine of five shillings from
the "ordinarie keeper," and two and sixpence from
" the partie" concerned. We are tempted to enter the
field of conjecture in quest of a possible "satisfactory
reason" with which to appease the worthy constable.
With liquor selling at two and sixpence the pint, it
is evident that the oflftcer's opportunities for " enter-
tainment" presented large possibilities in any town
at all given to protracted conviviality.

After these attractive suggestions of evening gos-
sip, spiced with the "ordinarie keeper's" favorite
brew, it is somewhat disconcerting to realize that the
"ordinary" of Roger Mowry, where town-meetings
were convened, travellers entertained, and the Indian
prisoner Waumanitt given "howse room" for himself
and his guard during some eight or ten nights, would
impress us as a far from commodious abiding-place.
Five years ago the house itself was still standing, and
in a state of very good preservation. It was built

The Roger IXIowry Tavern

Later the Whipple House, on Abbott Street, torn down
in 1900. From a wood-cut made about i860.

The Seventeenth Century 1 1 1

certainly as early as 1653, ^^^ originally contained
two rooms. The lower, or "fire room," was entered
from the street, and had a huge stone chimney, which
entirely filled one end of the house, save for a space
of some six feet at the side, where a steep staircase
led to the "chamber'' above. The dimensions of the
"fire room" were sixteen by seventeen feet. The
door, with its large step of a single flat stone, was in
the southwest corner. The house was a story and a
half in height, so that the overhead chamber was no
more than a loft. It would be interesting to know
where the host bestowed " the bed . . . and victuals
for the entertayning of strangers," which were, in
1 66 1, added to the list of essentials demanded of
those who would " retayle wine or lyckers."

If we were to form our opinion of the amount of
"lyckers" required to quench the thirst of the town
of Providence from the supplies brought there, or
such part of them as are entered on the town records
for the greater convenience of the excise-collector,
we should stand aghast at the apparent capacity of
the consumers. In 1655, forty-one ankers (each con-
taining nine or ten gallons) are recorded. Of these,
Roger Mowry is credited with six. In 1656, we find
a total importation of sixty-five ankers, three hogs-
heads, and one pipe. In 1658, eighty-six ankers,
eight quarter-casks, sixty-nine gallons, and four
barrels were brought into the town; and in the fol-
lowing year, one hundred and forty-nine ankers, four

1 1 2 "Providence in Colonial Times

hogsheads, one pipe, three barrels, and one half a
cask. The contents of these various receptacles are
enumerated as "liquors," wine, rum, "strong liq-
uors," and sack. Brandy is specified but twice.

Of course the greater part of this deluge of " strong
waters" was destined for the Indian trade, and, too,
the trade itself had just received an impetus from the
close of the war with the Dutch, thus removing a
barrier which must have cut off supplies, to a greater
or less degree, during the years immediately pre-
ceding the dates given above. "The bloody liquor
trade," as Roger Williams justly styled the traffic,
was far too profitable not to thrive in the face of
fixed prices, excises, and restrictions on selling at
retail. In the account just given, the home manu-
facture has been entirely neglected. Cider was plen-
tiful. " Peach bear" cannot have been a rarity, since
as early as 1656 Roger Williams has occasion to
speak of its ill effects as a vehicle for neighborly
hospitality. "Thos: the Scot . . . hath bene taken
up, drowned in going over in his Canow," he writes,
"having drunk too much Peach bear at his neigh-
bors."

The houses of this early period can only have been
of the most primitive type, of which Roger Mowry's
is a good example . They were made of half-logs, and
consisted of one room with a large stone chimney at
the end. Probably the roof was of thatch, and the
logs of the framework were no doubt plastered with

The Seventeenth Century 1 1 3

mud. At one corner, by the fireplace, a stair, steep
enough to have been built on the rungs of the original
ladder, led to the half-story loft under the roof. The
first amplification of this simple structure was the
addition of a lean-to, built along one side of the main
house.

An interesting house of this early period was that
of our military friend. Captain Arthur Fenner, in the
present suburb of Cranston. It was not pulled down
until 1895, and from the description it seems that it
was probably a reconstruction in part of that de-
stroyed by the Indians in 1675. The original chim-
ney was used, with an addition, for the second build-
ing. Across the top of the old fireplace lay an oak
beam with a carved moulding along its lower edge.
The ornamental side of life was so very far beyond
the reach, and possibly the aspirations, of the greater
number of Fenner's fellow-townsmen that this frag-
mentary relic of its non-utilitarian aspect rests in an
almost pathetic isolation. We know that the meadow
and upland of this "farm in the woods" were bought
by Captain Fenner in 1654, and it is probable that
the first house was built shortly afterwards. It was of
the regulation story and a half type, with a lean-to at
the side. It was thirty-six feet in length, sixteen feet
wide, and measured about nine feet from the door-
sill to the top of the side posts. These ran to the roof,
which sloped to within three feet of the floor of the
upper chamber.

114 'Providence in Colonial Times

Captain Fenner was an able man, of well-known
industry and thrift. His losses in the Indian war
were considerable. Not only was his house burned,
but his crops were destroyed, and his cattle driven
off. What the Indians failed to discover, or had not
time to reduce to ashes, fell a prey to the needs of the
troops of the United Colonies, — of which Rhode Is-
land was not one. " His Stacks of hay (22) and his
fencing, &c., God Suffered not the Pagans to de-
stroy," says Roger Williams. But the colonial troops
" found it necessary to fodder their Horses and make
them selves Lodging with the 22 Stacks and to make
them selves fires with all his fencing and with what-
ever was, about the farm, Combustible." The neces-
sity of paying for what was thus freely taken did not
strike them as equally pressing.

It was a sorry spectacle which the Captain found
awaiting him when he again entered into possession.
Nevertheless, he at once rebuilt his house, and bent
his energies to the work of restoration with such
creditable results that, in ten years' time, he was able
to report to the town assessors a rateable estate con-
sisting of "about three Hundred Acres of Wood land
unfenced & unimproved, about twenty Acres of
Inclosed wild pasture, & about tenn Acres in-
closed of English pasture, orchard & 3 shares of
medow, sum of it very boggy, scarce worth mowing;
about five Acres of planting land ; 2 oxen, 9 Cowes, 5
yeare old Cattle, 6 2 yeare old Catel, & 5 3 yeare

The Seventeenth Century 115

old Cattell, 4 Mares, one of them is but a yeareling
mare, one Horse, 3 swine, tenn sheepe. this is a Just
account. I pray be not unmindful! of the Golden
Rule." It would be interesting to know if the as-
sessors were men to meet halfway this suggestion as
to putting precept into practice.

Less than a mile to the southwest of the Captain's
house was that of his son, Thomas Fenner. Its huge
stone chimney, which fills the greater part of its
north end, bears the date 1677. We may assume
that after the war the Captain rebuilt his own house
and "set up" his son's at very nearly the same time.
The Thomas Fenner house was truly spacious, with
its "fire room" seventeen feet square, and stone fire-
place wherein many a ten-foot log has blazed and
crackled. In the corner by the chimney there was
room not only for the staircase, but for the trapdoor
leading down to the cellar. This mansion could boast
two stories and an attic, all provided with leaded
windows of a single sash.

A vivid picture of the domestic life and surround-
ings of the farmer and his family at the close of the
seventeenth century is obtained from the inventory
of his personal effects. It includes his wardrobe,
furniture, and the various accessories of his vocation,
set forth with such minute detail that there were
no sins of omission to be charged to the account of
the appraisers. When Captain Arthur Fenner died,
in 1703, his personal property was appraised at

1 1 6 "Providence in Colonial Times

X 1 66.08.0, including "some horses and Mares not
yet found," whose place in the valuation list is form-
ally filled in with ciphers. *'One horse neere or about
thirty yeares old," is put down at one shilling. Lest a
wrong impression of Fenner's thrift should be given,
it must be said that the livestock which was found
made, on the whole, a very creditable showing. He
had a yoke of oxen, five cows, four heifers, six steers,
"2 yearlings," a bull, and a horse, — the last valued
at £\. 5. o. There was a plentiful supply of farming-
tools, and various sorts of provender, for both man
and beast. *'Sidar," "Peach Jyce," a hive of bees,
Indian corn, wheat, rye, oats, cheese, butter, meal,
pork, and "beere," are enumerated, as also twenty-
nine loads of hay, worth twenty pounds.

The supply of furniture was more ample than were
the accommodations for housing it. Imagination
fails us in the endeavor to plan for the storage, in a
house consisting of one room and a loft, of three bed-
steads and the usual accompaniment of beds and
bedding, "three Great Chaires, & seven small ones,"
"five Chests and three boxes and a Trunck," besides
kettles, pots, "a Frieing Pann and a driping Pann,"
platters, porringers, cups, "sauscers," and bottles;
— not to mention "A great Bible, a Booke called
the statute" and "seven small Bookes." The Cap-
tain's "weareing Clothes" were valued at £%. 6. o.
The wardrobe is carefully itemized. It consisted of
" 2 hatts, one Neckcloath, one silke Capp, 3 shirts,

The Seventeenth Century 1 1 7

3 pair of silver Buttons, 5 wastcotts, seven pair of
breeches and a pair of drawers, 3 loose Coates, one
Buff belt, 2 pair of Mittens, one pair of Gloves,
3 pair of stockings, one pair of Bootes and spurrs,
and some shooes." The Captain's silver buttons are
among the first items of silver in any form which
figure in the lists of household effects in the Provi-
dence Plantations.

In his entertaining book on The Colonial Tavern,
Mr. Field tells us that Major Thomas Fenner, whose
house has just been described, brewed a beer famous
throughout the countryside, which commanded a
price of no less than three shillings a barrel ; and who
can doubt that it was made from the same recipe as
were the "5 Barrills*' included among his father's
effects 1 At all events, Mr. Field has given us the
recipe, and any one who doubts the tonic effects of
the resulting beverage has at his command the means
whereby he may taste and see that the beer is good.

Receipt to make Bear

One ounce of Sentry Suckery or SuIIndine one
handful Red Sage or Large 34 Pound Shells of Iron
Brused fine take 10 quarts of Water Steep it away to
Seven and a quart of Molases Wheat Brand Baked
Hard, one quart of Malt one handful Sweeat Balm
Take it as Soone as it is worked.

King Philip's War destroyed the work of a genera-
tion. Few lives were lost, it is true, but large numbers
of cows, horses, and sheep were driven off; crops.

1 1 8 Trovidence in Colonial Times

haystacks, and houses were burned. In the town of
Providence many of those houses which had been
destroyed were not rebuik. Some of the people who
had left the town when it was threatened by the
Indians did not return. A series of readjustments
took place, — either knowingly or unwittingly.

The disturbance caused by the impending trouble,
even before the blow actually fell, is shown by the
action of the town regarding the bridge at Wey-
bosset, — i.e., at Weybosset Point, the site where
now stand the Washington Buildings, at the corner
of Washington Row and Westminster Street. As
late as 1660 (only fifteen years before the war) the
town had gone to great expense in building a bridge.
This structure had cost no less than one hundred and
sixty pounds, and although, with characteristic New-
England reserve, its exact location is withheld, the
interesting fact is mentioned that it is useful, not
only for the denizens of Providence, "but for the
whole Countrey." On the ground of the extraordin-
ary cost of the bridge and its utility to the general
public, it has been plausibly argued that the afore-
said bridge was at Weybosset, which is to say that it
was the first Great Bridge over the river where
Market Square is to-day.

Three years later a statement was made, which
would seem to solve any doubts entertained by the
most critical descendant of the seventeenth-century
taxpayers. In April, 1663, ^'George Shepard of the

The Seventeenth Century 119

Towne of Providence . . . came . . . into Court,"
and presented to the town his rights as a purchaser in
the lands lying between the Seven-Mile Line and the
Twenty-Mile Line, "to this purpose, that the said
Right shall be for the maintaining of the Towne
Bridge at Waybossett." However generous the pur-
pose of the donor, it soon became evident that the
revenue from this real estate would not suffice to
maintain the "Bridge at Waybossett," and in the
following year a committee was appointed to "goe
unto all the inhabetantes of the Towne to see what
they will Contribute to the Mending the Bridge att
Wayboysett." The amount of the contribution is not
mentioned, but there is no doubt that it answered the
purpose, since, by the terms of the agreement sub-
sequently made with the town, it is specified that the
contracting parties shall receive "for theire paines
& Labour about the premises," £i^. lo. o, and that
the same shall be paid in wheat at five shillings a
bushel, and "Indian Corne" at three shillings a
bushel; "and what peage is paid it is to be at sixteen
per penney white and eight a penney Black."

Two years passed before action was again called
for. In 1667 we read that five men were "Chosen to
vew the bridge at Wapwoysit & to Considder of the
most Easy & facill way to repaire it so that the
passage may not be lost." The committee was made
up of Roger Williams, John Throckmorton, Arthur
Fenner, John Whipple, Senior, and Resolved Water-

I20 "Providence in Colonial Times

man, and after a year had been taken "to Consid-
der" the matter, Roger Williams characteristically
came to the front with this proposition, — " to offer,
that if you please, I will (with Gods helpe) take this
Bridge into my Care, and by that moderate toll of
Strangers of all Sorts . . . will maintaine it So long
as it pleaseth God that I live in this Towne." His
offer proceeded to state that the town was to be " free
from all Toll," on condition that each family would
give one man's work for one day in the year towards
keeping the bridge in good condition. People owning
teams, who used the bridge frequently, were to give
a day's work of a man and team; those who had
"lesse use, half a day." The town agreed to exact
toll from strangers with cheerful promptness, but
stated, somewhat ambiguously, in respect to the
responsibility of the " Inhabetants," to cooperate in
the matter, that "he shall Receave what Each person
is freely willing to Contribute towards Saporting of
the above said bridge."

Whether Roger amassed sufficient wealth from
the tolls to excite the cupidity of the townsmen, or
whether (as seems more probable) he was uncom-
fortably insistent in the matter of levying the re-
quired day's work from his neighbors and their
teams, we cannot say. Certain it is, however, that in
March, 1672, the town voted that he should not "any
Longer Keepe at the Bridge," but was "wholely
Forbid so to do."

The Seventeenth Century 1 2 1

In this condition of affairs, " the bridg at waybos-
sett" speedily became nobody's business, and in the
spring of 1675, when the "hurries with the Indians"
was the thought uppermost in the minds of men,
George Shepard's donation of land was formally
returned to him by the town, for the stated reason
that it was given "upon Condictiones that a bridg
was maintain'd at waybossett which is not done."
Possibly it was thought undesirable to provide a
thoroughfare for the dreaded Indians, who were
already raiding the surrounding country. In all
probability the resources and energy of the fright-
ened and anxious " Inhabetants " were taxed to the
utmost in the effort to provide a refuge for their
families and their chattels.

It was many a long day before a second bridge was
built. With characteristic wrong-headedness, for the
ensuing thirty years the townspeople, their cattle,
and their teams splashed through the ford at "the
wading-place" (from Steeple Street diagonally to the
present Exchange Street), or went up the river half a
mile to the Mill Bridge, in order to reach the mead-
ows on Weybosset Plain, or the cart-path which led
to the farms at Mashapaug.

The possession of teams would, under ordinary
conditions, create a demand for good roads, and
whatever shortcomings may be laid to the score of
the Providence town-meeting, it cannot be accused of
remissness in this matter. From 1649 it is repeatedly

12 2 Trovidence in Colonial Times

"ordered," or "voated," that the highway shall be
repaired by each man "before his house lot or lots,"
that lands laid out shall not "damnify the highway,"
that trees felled across the highway must be removed
within twenty-four hours, and that the common road
must not be obstructed by large stones, or boulders.
At length, in 1664, every man who had a team was
required to " worke i day worke a yeare with it at the
high wayes," and " Every howse keeper that hath no
teame shall worke 2 dayes."

This moderate requirement proved insufficient to
meet the emergency, and the spring mud of the April
following brought the town fathers to a realizing
sense of the necessity for more drastic measures.
Each "howse keeper" was thereupon required to
"worke Three dayes in a yeare at the high wayes"
under penalty of a fine of two shillings and sixpence
for each day omitted. "And those who have oxen to
forfeitt \s. 6d. for a yoake," unless "they Cann
Excuse them selves justly Either by sicknesse or
there oxen Cannot be found."

Under these circumstances we should be inclined
to predict an epidemic among the "howse keepers"
for the spring of 1666, or else an astonishingly large
number of lost and strayed oxen. Not improbably
the town was visited by both misfortunes, with the
result that the June town-meeting took up the matter,
and ordered that " if any make such Excuses [as the
above] yett they shall not be Freed." A later gener-

The Seventeenth Century 123

ation supplemented the pound of cure with an ounce
of prevention. In 1682, the General Assembly of the
colony was moved to consider the "damage" done
"in the towne of Providence by persons riding a
gallup," and this devastating rate of progress was
peremptorily forbidden "in the street lying against
the great river . . . between the land of Pardon
Tillinghast, and the northerly corner of John Whip-
ple, Sen'r, where his dwelling-house stands," under
penalty of five shillings fine. Pardon Tillinghast
lived at the corner of South Main and Transit
Streets, and John Whipple, Senior, dwelt about half-
way up Constitution Hill, at the north end of the
town.

By the time the good people of Providence had
sold off their Indian prisoners, reinstated their house-
hold gods so far as that was practicable, and settled
down once more to a quiet life on the Towne Street,
diversified rather than disturbed by sundry neigh-
borly differences of opinion, their first thought was
for the preservation of their " Towne Books and
Records (saved by Gods mercifuU Providence from
fire and water)." Accordingly four men, who had
held the position of town-clerk, were appointed to
"view and search the papers, what is wanting or
Lost, and make report to the Towne." This was done
in October, 1677, and the records were in due course
delivered to the then town-clerk, Daniel Abbott.

Abbott's house, and, later, his still-house, stood

124 'Providence in Colonial Times

on the Towne Street, close by the present Market
Square, and near the "great tree by the water side,
before Thomas Fields," where the town-meetings
were held during the months immediately following
the Indian raid. When cold weather set in, the tree
and the waterside must have furnished chilly accom-
modation, and no doubt Daniel Abbott, being town-
clerk, was called on to provide house-room for the
town-meeting, as well as the town records. Finally,
he seems to have felt that the demands of hospitality
had been amply fulfilled. In the December of 1679
he addressed the town, — "to pray the towne now
without much further delay (before the boardes &
Timber be most all sent out of the Townshipp) . . .
to the Perticular propriety and advantages of only
some few Perticular persons of the towne ; that they
agree Lovingly togather for the building them a
Towne house to keepe theire meetings at; And not
yet to Continue further Troubles and burdens on
some Perticular persons, without tendering any
Satisfaction for the privelledge thereof, as hath ap-
peared neere this two yeares space of time, unto your
Neighbour and Friend . . . Daniell Abbott."

This appeal to justice was not without effect. Once
more Roger Williams came to the front, and a month
later presented to the town-meeting a bill providing
for arrears of payment due the town officials, with
the result that Daniel Abbott was voted " the full and
Just Sume of forty shillings in Currant pay," and

The Seventeenth Century 1 2 5

that on making known the amount of his claims for
"howse rent yet unpayed," he should be "herd,
Satisfied, Contented & pa yd."

So far, matters looked promising, but governments
are notoriously ungrateful, and this deplorable fact is
again brought out in the experience of the Providence
town-clerk. Precisely six years later he pertinently
informs the town-meeting that "as it is Equitable"
for him to pay his debts, "it is as good reason for you
to pay your debts," and with this preamble presents
his bill of ;^i. 4. 6 for services in "Coppicing out"
and "leivying" various town rates, concluding with
the following exhortation: "And as the saying is,
many can help one, better than one can help many :
there were three yeares that meettings were keept
at my dwelling, what will you allow me for that?
Forty shillings was promised, but none performed.
Considering the most was kept in the winter when
fire-wood burn't out apace, which is scace to be had
where I dwell."

This pungent reminder appears to have brought
about a settlement of the debt. When Daniel Abbott
next comes upon the stage of the town-meeting it is
as the author of an ingenuously worded return of his
taxable estate. He reports "a yoak of oxen, 2 Cows,
2 steers. One horse, and a poore (maim'd) young
maire. Aboute 12 Acars of improveable Land, a 3rd
part of a share of meddow, most of it but pollopodum
stuff e, And for the Orchard ... in 3 years all that I

1 2 6 ^Providence in Colonial Times

give account of, was but 12 Bushels and a peck of
Apples ... as for my Orchard at home, it is Soe
demolished trees ded and cutt down and That I had
very Little Benefitt of Late yeares : Also I am prety
much downe the winde at present. And have been
disabled this Winter . . . and yet am Lame in i of
my hands: and Like to be." If to this lugubrious
tale there could have been added the complaint of a
debt owing him from the town, we can hardly doubt
that it would have been duly inserted.

It was not until the last year of Abbott's services
as town-clerk that an appointed place was provided
in which the town could hold its meetings. The mat-
ter fell out in this wise. In the spring of 1681, the
General Assembly ordered the various town coun-
cils to regulate and license the sale of "strong drink"
in their respective towns. Accordingly the council
in Providence sent for John Whipple, Junior, and
Mary Pray, as being " the Likelyest in this Towne,"
and inquired if either or both of them would under-
take to keep a public-house, "provideing both for
horse and man for this Ensueing yeare." Whipple
eventually refused to provide an acceptable bond,
but Mary Pray duly received her license, which per-
mitted her to sell "Beer, wine, or strong Liquors."
She was not to allow unlawful games to be carried on
in her house, "nor any Evill rule to be kept therein."
The license was sufficiently high to augur well for the
landlady's prospects of custom, whether in enter-

The Seventeenth Century 127

taining the stranger within her gates, or in dispensing
refreshment at the bar. She was to pay the town
twenty shiUings in money, but " she being willing to
give Liberty to the Towne for theire towne meet-
tings to be kept at her house," the council agreed "to
accept of the Same ... in Lue of the said Twenty
shillings."

Two years before Mary Pray's death, which oc-
curred in 1686, her son Ephraim took over the license
given her in 1681 . Even at this early date a compet-
itor had entered the field, and a rival hostelry now
offered the town-meeting not house-room only, but
"fire roome and fireing and Candle at all theire
Towne Meetings and Councill meeteings," nor does
it admit of doubt that the inner man might also be
warmed and comforted should the necessity arise.
This enterprising competitor was no other than the
"likely" John Whipple, Junior. His father came to
Providence in 1637, received a grant of land as a pur-
chaser, united with the church, served seven terms as
deputy, and in 1674 had a license granted him to
keep "an ordinary." When he died, in 1685, he left
a large property in land, but the means at his disposal
"for the Entertainment of strangers" impress us as
somewhat scanty. He had one feather bed, seven
pewter platters, five pewter porringers, three old
spoons, — and a family of eleven children. His son,
John, Junior, kept a tavern for many years on what
is now Mill Street, and a younger son, Joseph, was

12 8 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

also at one time a licensed innkeeper within the town
of Providence.

A care to provide for the comfort and entertain-
ment of strangers is but one of many indications that
a period of recovery from the devastation caused by
the war had fairly begun. As early as 1679, Richard
Smith of Cawcawmsqussick wrote of the harvest:
"a greate yeare for frute and Coren; Sider in abun-
dance." It was in February, 1679, that a price-list of
land and livestock was drawn up for the guidance of
the assessors who were about to levy a town rate.
From this we learn that improved meadow land was
worth four pounds an acre. Planting-land brought
three pounds. Unimproved land was estimated at
three shillings. Oxen were valued at four pounds;
cows at three pounds. A four-year-old horse was also
quoted at three pounds. Hogs were rated at fifteen
shillings, and sheep at four shillings. Although it is
explicitly stated that "the Rate-makers are not soe
strictly tyed up to the instructions . . , but that
they have a Libberty to vary therefrom," there is no
reason to doubt that the above list gives a fair aver-
age price for staple commodities. The price of un-
improved land, it will be remarked, had gone from
sixpence per acre to three shillings, in thirty years.

In the records of 1680 there appears another un-
mistakable symptom of progress. Pardon Tillinghast
asked for, and obtained, "a litde Spott of Land
against [i.e., opposite] his dwelling place (above high-

The Seventeenth Century 129

water mark) of Twenty Foott Square, for building
himselfe A store house with the prieveladge of A
whorfe Alsoe." And later in the same year, Arthur
Fenner, who was usually in the van of progress,
obtained a similar "Spott of ground" forty feet
square. At once Edward London, Epenetus Olney,
George Shepard, and Samuel Whipple "desired the
town" to "accommodate" them in like manner. In
1 68 1, five lots of "forty feet square by the water
side" were laid out, and seven in 1682.

These evidences of the small beginnings of the sea-
port life of Providence take to themselves an addi-
tional interest as we read the Report on the Colony
of Rhode Island, sent by Governor Peleg Sanford to
the Lords of Trade in the same year that Pardon
Tillinghast, Arthur Fenner, and others set about
building their wharves and storehouses. Governor
Sanford says that the colony has no commerce with
foreigners or with Indians, that the chief exports are
horses and provisions, and that "a small quantity of
Barbadoes goods" are imported "for supply of our
families." "For Merchants wee have none, but the
most of our Colloney live comfortably by improvinge
the wildernesse. Wee have no shipinge belonginge to
our Colloney but only a few sloopes." And he adds
that "the great obstruction concerninge trade is the
want of Merchants and Men of considerable Estates
amongst us."

Even as the worthy governor wrote, a time was at

130 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

hand when men should aspire to larger and more
speedy rewards for their labor than could be secured
"by improvinge the wildernesse." The "spots of
ground'* laid out in 1680 and the subsequent years
were the modest beginnings of the long row of "ware-
house lots," which by the end of another sixty years
lined the water side of theTowne Street.

Pardon Tillinghast, whose storehouse and wharf is
first on the list, came to Providence as a young man
in time to be enrolled among the "quarter-rights'*
men ; and he proved himself a most desirable member
of the little township in which he passed the greater
part of the remaining seventy years of his long and
useful life. He was born in Sussex, England, and is
credited with the possession of military experience
gained in that notable organization of the church
militant, the New Model Army of Oliver Cromwell.
Eventually, he appeared in Providence, and bought
the home lot which was assigned to Hugh Bewit in the
original distribution on the Towne Street. There he
built the dwelling-house "against" which his store-
house and "whorfe" were to stand. He was a cooper
by trade, but, like most enterprising members of the
new settlement, seems to have tried his hand at
several vocations. It is certain that he lived at New-
port for several years, but the greater part of his busy
life was spent at Providence. Here he kept a shop,
very probably in the "store house" already men-
tioned. In 1688, his estate, as rated for taxation,

The Seventeenth Century 1 3 1

consisted of shop goods to the value of forty pounds,
four acres of enclosed land, eighty acres of vacant
land, two shares of meadow, four cows, three heifers,
twenty-four sheep, five "horse-kind," two swine,
part of two boats, and "a little sorry housing." In
his later years, — and he lived to be ninety-six, — he
withdrew from active business, but he had large sums
of money out at interest, as appears by the inventory
of his estate. The appraisers' list reads: "due by
bonds ;^i, 133. 18.0; due by book ;{^9i; bills of credit
£iSS- 4- o; silver money ;^88. i8. o." His family
plate was summed up in "one silver spoone."

Although Pardon Tillinghast's career as a man of
business was marked both by enterprise and success,
he is most conspicuously remembered for his con-
nection with the Baptist church at Providence,
where the recollection of his services and benefits
has been gratefully cherished. He was a firm believer
in the rite known as the "Laying on of Hands,"
which formed the distinguishing tenet of the so-
called "Six Principle Baptists," and missed no op-
portunity to testify to the truth, as it had been made
manifest to his spirit. As an elder of the church, such
opportunities were frequently at his disposal, and we
cannot doubt that many a Providence congregation
left the sanctuary much edified by his eloquence.

Like all elders in the Baptist communion. Elder
Tillinghast received no pay for his services. The
ministers of those days were not judged unworthy of

132 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

their hire, but superior to it. In the present instance
the modern procedure was reversed, and instead of
Pardon TilHnghast receiving a salary from the mem-
bers of his church, he presented his Httle flock with
their first meeting-house. In 171 1 he deeded "his
house called the Baptist meeting house, situated be-
tween the Town Street and salt water, together with
the lot whereon said meeting house standeth, to the
church, for the Christian love, good will and affection
which I bear to the church of Christ in said Provi-
dence." This building is described by tradition as
being ** in the shape of a hay cap, with a fireplace in
the middle, the smoke escaping from a hole in the
roof." Crude as this sounds, we may well believe
that the comfort of this primitive structure far sur-
passed that of the more elaborate meeting-houses of
the later eighteenth century, which were totally un-
provided with either chimney or fire. The building
stood on the corner of North Main and Smith Streets.
Although Elder Tillinghast has put himself on re-
cord as unwilling to take any form of payment for his
services, he also declared that it was "the duty of a
church to contribute towards the maintenance of
their elders," and as such should be "performed to
such as might come after him." It was not "per-
formed," however, until the pastorate of Doctor
Manning, late in the eighteenth century. The one
remaining family burying-ground of those belonging
to the families on the Towne Street is that of Pardon

The Seventeenth Century 138

Tillinghast. It is on Benefit Street, at the corner of
Transit, and contains a monument to the memory of
the founder of the American branch of the family.
Pardon Tillinghast was twice married. He had
twelve children and seventy-nine grandchildren. His
numerous descendants have ever been foremost in
all good works and public enterprises. Their record
redounds no less creditably to the memory of their
"unblemished" ancestor than does the long tale of
his worth to their pride and honor.

In the course of nature it was not to be expected
that the party of progress should have everything its
own way. An amusing incident, which may serve to
illustrate not only the poverty, but the lack of enter-
prise of the average townsman, is first touched on in
the town-meeting of December 7, 1681, when "one
Thomas Copper" is described as being in the town
"only upon sufferance" and yet "like to make great
waste of our pitch wood by running of tar," where-
fore the town is "prayed" "to take some speedy care
to prevent it." This timely warning did not fail of its
effect. Only a week had passed before it was voted
that "whereas this Towne of providence hath long
Experienced the Great Bennifitt that they have had
by there pitchwood for Candell light," as well as the
"great Inconveiniencye which they may be made
partakers of " should this blessing be snatched from
them, all persons who are determined "to propagate
the running of Tarr from pitchwood ; As also of

134 "Providence in Colonial Times

pitchwood to make Coal," are strictly forbidden to
engage in these nefarious practices under penalty of
forfeiting the products of their labor, — unless, in-
deed, they are "inhabitants" of the town. In that
case each man may "run" ten gallons "for his own
proper use." Candles were still too great a luxury
for use in illumination, unless it was desired to watch
the flight of time.

In this same year (1681) the sale of the house and
lot of one John Jones was ordered by the town, "by
reason of his incapassity to maintaine himselfe and
make the best of his Estate." The sale was made to
the highest bidder, "by the inch of the Candle."
When once the inch-mark was reached, the hammer
fell, and the property changed owners. John Jones's
estate was handed over to Thomas Harris for the
sum of ;^I7. 6. o. He was to pay one third in silver,
and "the other two Thirds as money, & in such
things as two men appoynted by the Towne shall see
it be needfuU for the said Joanes releife." Two years
later "John Jones his lott" again makes its appear-
ance, as the first piece of real estate on record to be
provided with a sidewalk. Joseph Smith was given
"forty feet square of land all the breadth of the said
lott, upon this Condition that he shall lay a row of
steping stones acrosse the said lotts End close by the
fence for people to passe, & repasse upon."

It was not long after that expansion of the town's
trade which found expression in a demand for

The Seventeenth Century 135

"whorfes," that Roger Williams, the founder of that
church whose "hay-cap "-like meeting-house he
did not live to see, wrote to his friend Governor
Bradstreet, of Massachusetts, his last letter of which
we have knowledge. This letter dwells especially on
his work as a preacher. He says that "being old and
weak and bruised," and having "lameness on both
feet," he has collected, by his fireside, "the dis-
courses which (by many tedious journeys) I have
had with the scattered English at Narragansett,
before the war and since." They amount to "near
30 sheets" of his writing, and there is "no contro-
versy in them." He wishes to appeal, through Brad-
street, to any "that hath a shilling and a heart to
countenance and promote such a soul work" as the
printing of these discourses, or sermons. "Sir, I
shall humbly wait for your advice," he concludes,
"where it may best be printed, at Boston or Cam-
bridge, and for how much, the printer finding the
paper." [Dated, Providence, May 6, 1682.]

It would seem that the Narraganset trading-post
was utilized by Roger Williams as a mission station
to almost the close of his life. Callender says in his
well-known Historical Discourse, that he was told in
1738, by people who had known Roger Williams,
" that he used to uphold a public worship, sometimes,
tho' not weekly [presumably at Providence] . . .
and he used to go once a month, for many years, to
Mr. Smith's in the Narragansett, for the same end."

13^ "Providence in Colonial Times

It was, at the time of writing the letter quoted
above, but a Httle over six months since Roger
Williams had ceased to take an active part in the ad-
ministration of town affairs. In the latter part of the
previous October his name appears in an official
capacity for the last time on the town records. No
doubt his few remaining days were passed for the
most part by his fireside, in revising his " discourses."
He died in the spring of 1683. A certain John Thorn-
ton, of Providence, writing on May 10 to his friend
Samuel Hubbard at Newport, says: *'The Lord hath
arrested by death our ancient approved friend Mr.
Roger Williams." No more definite record of his end
exists, nor is it known definitely where he was buried.

Roger Williams's second daughter, Freeborn, has
the key to the first chapter of her history given in a
letter of her father's, written in 1656, to Governor
Endicott, of Massachusetts. It reads: "this bearer
Mr. Hart a Young shipmaster (who now maketh
Love to my second daughter Freeborne) is bound
for Salem about a Vessell." As a young shipmaster.
Hart naturally found Newport a more promising
base of operations than poor little Providence, and
there he and his wife made their home, and that of
their four children.

In 1 67 1, Thomas Hart died, and twelve years later
his widow began the second chapter in her life's
romance. In the opening years of the history of
the little town of Providence, we may fancy Roger

The Seventeenth Century 137

Williams's family of five children living on the
Towne Street, in a state of almost comfortless sim-
plicity, to be sure, but with the contentment and
childish gayety that thrive on a hardy open-air exist-
ence. On the next home lot to the north dwelt Rich-
ard Scott, — likewise a "first-comer," — with his
family. Roger and Friend Richard were far from
seeing eye to eye in matters of creed, or as regards
that social deportment which is a part of the Quaker
doctrine ; but the boundaries of the home lots were
seldom marked by fences in those days, and it is
probable that complete liberty of action and of
conscience was found in all neighborly intercourse
between the families of Williams and Scott. While
Roger Williams might have forbidden his children to
partake of his Lord's Supper in the company of those
whom he regarded as steeped in the heresy of the
Quakers, there is no evidence to show that he would
have extended his prohibition to clam-digging, or
even mudpie-making.

Hannah Scott was the second daughter of the
family, a girl seven years younger than Freeborn
Williams, whom she must have known chiefly as the
companion of her older sister, Mary Scott. When, in
1667, Hannah married Walter Clarke and went to
her new home in Newport, Freeborn Hart had al-
ready a family of three children growing up around
her in that pleasant town. Four years later, in 1671,
Thomas Hart, shipmaster, died, and it was found

1 3 8 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

that he had named Walter Clarke as one of the exe-
cutors of his will. At that time Walter Clarke had
barely begun his long political career, which fills the
years from 1673 to his death in 17 14. He was four
times assistant, six times governor of the colony, and
twenty-three times deputy governor. It was as
governor that he wrote the letter to Captain Fenner,
quoted in an earlier chapter, wherein he animadverts
on Fenner's attitude, and explains the position of
Newport towards *'the outlying towns" at the time
of the Indian war. He was a widower with three
children when he married Hannah Scott, within a
year of his first wife's death. In 1681, he was once
more a widower, with a family of seven children, the
oldest of whom was seventeen. His experience of life
in a seaport town had doubtless convinced him of the
truth of the adage that " there are as good fish in the
sea as ever were caught," for within two years he was
again married, and this time to Freeborn Williams
Hart. On her death, in 17 10, he endowed a fourth
wife with his worldly goods, and she survived him.
When Freeborn Hart became Freeborn Clarke,
and thereby consented to take the place of mother to
seven stepsons and daughters as well as to her own
four children, we may wonder if a thought crossed
her mind of the possibilities involved in such an
arrangement. Whether this was the case or not, she
must have watched, with that tender interest which
the recollection of our childhood's days awakens in

The Seventeenth Century ^39

each of us, the wooing of the daughter of her old
playmate, Hannah Scott, by her own son, James.

We may assume that Frances Clarke was married
to James Hart in 169 1, or 1692. The chapter of their
romance drew swiftly to a tragic end. In 1693,
Frances — even then a girl of only twenty — was
laid in her grave, whither in less than a month her
young husband followed her.

The third daughter of Roger Williams was called
Mercy. When twenty-one she married Resolved
Waterman. The father of Resolved, Richard by
name, came to Providence in 1638, and was one of
the twelve original proprietors. Later, he became one
of the purchasers of Shawomet, or Warwick, and was
among the little band of Gortonists taken to Boston
by the Massachusetts crusaders, in 1643. Waterman
was, with the others, arraigned before the court at
Boston. A fine was imposed, which he paid, but was
once again arrested, and "being found erroneous,
heretical, and obstinate," was sentenced to imprison-
ment until the following September. He was then
banished from Massachusetts, and forbidden to
return under penalty of death. The temptation to
wander within the precincts of the Bay Colony can
hardly have been great, unless, indeed. Waterman
had something of the missionary spirit in his compo-
sition. Later, he appears to have become a Quaker,
for his death is noted on the records of the Society of
Friends. His son, Resolved, who was a boy at the

140 "Providence in Colonial Times

time of the raid on Shawomet, died in 1670, after a
married life of eleven years, leaving a wife and five
children. Seven years after his death his widow
married Samuel Winsor, also of Providence. Their
son Samuel became, in 1733, minister of the Baptist
church, where he spent a long, and doubtless a useful,
pastorate of twenty-five years. Morgan Edwards
speaks of him as "a man remarkable for preaching
against paying ministers, and for refusing invitations
to Sunday dinners for fear they should be consider-
ations for Sunday sermons."

Roger Williams was blessed with three sons as well
as the daughters whose biographies have been] out-
lined. Of his sons, the oldest was Providence, born in
1638. He made his home at Newport, and was a
shopkeeper and shipmaster, if we may trust circum-
stantial evidence as to his means of livelihood. He
had a sloop, and of sufficient size to "clear the town
of all the Indians" remaining as prisoners in the
hands of the English after the close of the war, in
1676. In 1682 the town of Providence gave him "a
little piece of Ground to sett up a ware-house, with
the privilege of a warfe. Against the Towne lane by
Daniel Williams." The aforesaid *' Towne lane " was
the present Power Street. Providence Williams died
unmarried, in 1686. His inventory plainly shows the
nature of his business, and gives some interesting
indications also of the wants of his customers, who
(to judge from his stock in trade) were red as well as

The Seventeenth Century 141

white. Among his effects were three pairs of steel-
yards, two pairs of brass scales and a nest of weights,
twenty-five gallons of rum, twenty pipes, a broken
parcel of silk, beads of glass, jew's-harps, buttons,
about four thousand pins, five Bermuda baskets,
knives, scissors, knitting-needles, silk crape, a Bible,
and a " lex mercatory " {Lex Mercatoria).

The second brother, Daniel, took up his abode in
Providence, where he found ample opportunity to
satisfy such trading instincts as he possessed by deal-
ing in real estate. In 1662, he and his younger
brother Joseph were each granted "a purchase right
of land," in consideration "of some Courtesies re-
ceived from Mr. [Roger] Williams," although the
town at the same time ordered that no other request
for purchase rights should be granted. A year later
the purchasers concluded that there should "not be
any more people acomedated with land as purchas-
ers." It was fifteen years after he was enrolled among
the Providence purchasers before Daniel took to him-
self a wife. In 1676, he married Rebecca, the widow
of Nicholas Power, whose husband — just a year
before — had been killed in the Great Swamp Fight
of December, 1675. Her marriage with Daniel
Williams was, says Roger Williams, who as town-
clerk entered it on the records, "the first Mariage
since God mercifully restored the Towne of Provi-
dence."

In 1 7 10, Daniel found, or made, occasion to write

142 Trovidence in Colonial Times

a letter to the town of Providence respecting the
bounds of the Providence purchase, and in this epis-
tle he says of his father: "Can you find such another
now alive, or in this age? He gave away his lands
and other estate, to them that he thought most in
want, until he gave away all, so that he had nothing
to help himself, so that he not being in a way to get
for his supply, and being ancient, it must needs pinch
somewhere. I do not say what I have done for both
father and mother : I judge they wanted nothing that
was convenient for ancient people. What my father
gave, I believe he had a good intent in it, and thought
God would provide for his family. He never gave me
but about three acres of land, and but a little afore he
deceased. It looked hard, that out of so much at his
disposing, I should have so little, and he so little."
All honor to Daniel for his filial piety! Lest we should
be led to think of him as unduly "pinched" by his
praiseworthy efforts in behalf of his aged parents, it
maybe as well to bear in mind the very ample provis-
ion which he made for the needs of his own family,
just before his death, two years after penning the above
letter. He conveyed by deeds, lands and dwelling-
houses to his two younger sons ; he provided " rea-
sonable privileges" to his wife; and deeded to his
daughter Patience, five acres of land, "a negro girl
Ann," four cows, and " the goods she hath in chests
and trunks." The eldest son, Peleg, must have been
already provided for, and probably, as being the

Joseph Williams House

Built by the son of Roger Williams. Formerly stood on
Elmwood Avenue and was torn down in 1886. From a
water-color drawing made in 1858 by Edward L. Peck-
ham, in the Rhode Island flistorical Society.

.?nn r.vr-iifrv I jHufi

.-I ofD rfr'

-^^>. A

The Seventeenth Century 143

eldest son, received a more liberal share of the estate
than his brothers.

The third and youngest of the Williams brothers
was named, appropriately, Joseph. As a boy he was
somewhat delicate. In 1660, his father wrote to
Winthrop : " My youngest son, Joseph, was troubled
with a spice of an epilepsy: We used some remedies,
but it hath pleased God, by his taking of tobacco,
perfectly, as we hope, to cure him." Does it argue
degeneracy, or progression, that tobacco is, nowa-
days, warranted to kill, — not cure? When a young
man of twenty-six, Joseph married Lydia, the second
daughter and youngest child of our old acquaintance,
Thomas Olney, Senior. Perhaps he was a member of
the valiant Train Band, commanded by his father,
whose authority, it is well to remember, was not to be
"eclipsed" even by that of the colony's commander-
in-chief. Captain Arthur Fenner.

Joseph Williams's gravestone still testifies to his
services in the Indian war of 1676. He was a man
of considerable prominence, and not without honor
even in his own country. He served repeatedly as
deputy in the colonial assembly, as member of the
town council, and as assistant. When he died, in
1724, he left an estate of seven hundred and thirty
acres. The dwelling-house, orchard, etc., at Masha-
paug went to his son James, who was especially en-
joined "to provide for his Mother my said loveing
Wife Lidia Williams all things that shee shall have

144 ^Providence in Colonial Times

neede of and that are necessary for an antiant woman
dureing the full term of her naturall Life." His
" loveing wife " survived him only three weeks. She,
her husband, and many of their descendants were
buried on the homestead farm at Mashapaug, on
land which is now within the limits of Roger Williams
Park, in Providence.

There can be little reason to doubt that the last
years of Roger Williams — "The Father of Provi-
dence, the Founder of the Colony, and of Liberty of
Conscience" — were passed, as he himself describes
them, " by the fireside," amid his children and grand-
children. The increasing infirmities of age would
have prevented his taking an active part in the affairs
of the town, had he not been living close at hand, and
we may plausibly assume that he lived with his son
Daniel, at the south end of the Towne Street, as is
suggested by Daniel's letter, already quoted.

Chapter V

A GROUP OF NEWCOMERS AND KING'S
CHURCH

THE history of the first sixty years of the
Providence Plantation is almost unmarked
by attempts to mitigate the solitude of the
wilderness through intercourse with other commun-
ities. The nearest neighbors were at Rehoboth, a
flourishing settlement of the Plymouth Colony, with
whose well-to-do townspeople Providence main-
tained a somewhat desultory interchange of com-
modities and courtesies, — an interchange brought
about rather by the necessities of circumstance than
by any bond of sympathetic fellowship. Indeed, the
"proximity of Providence . . . where there was a
universal toleration . . . and principle, fancy, whim
and conscience, all conspired to lessen the veneration
for ecclesiastical authority,'* was not regarded with
unqualified approbation by her neighbors in Massa-
chusetts. But as the years slipped by, and the cause
of truth was seen to prosper, in spite of dealings with
the unregenerate on the west bank of the Seekonk,
disquietude died away. At length the demands of
constant invercourse made apparent the need of
better facilities for transportation. Before 1668 we
find a ferry of some sort at "the place called the Nar-
row passage," where Red Bridge now stands. That

146 "Providence in Colonial Times

it speedily justified its existence may be inferred from
a request of Captain Andrew Edmonds, to the effect
that he might receive at the hands of his grateful
countrymen "in referance to his service done in the
warr time . . . aboute two Acars of Land . . .
neere the water side at the place . . . commonly
Called the narrow passage ... for the building him
a house; he intending the keeping of a Ferry he
saith." His petition was presented in 1679, after the
cessation of the alarms and excursions incident to
King Philip's War. The town met their first veteran
more than halfway, and promptly presented him
with "four Acars of Land . . . retaining to the
townes use a suitable and Conveinent prievelledge
not with standing."

Although the bounds of the Captain's grant were
not "laid down" until 1687, we cannot suppose that
he delayed many months before putting up his house
and "keeping" his ferry. Before the surveyor's
formalities in this matter were entered on the town
records, the pressure of public opinion had brought
into existence another outlet for the growing industry
and enterprise of the little settlement. During the in-
terim between haytime and harvest, in the summer of
1684, orders were issued to the town-clerk — the son
of our old acquaintance, Thomas Olney, Senior —
" to send some lines unto the Towne of Rehoboth,"
on behalf of the town of Providence, to say that "Our
Towne haveing taken into Consideration the Neces-

A Group of Newcomers 147

sitye of a Road-way through the Countrey for Trav-
ellers to passe, have Errected ... a way through
our Towneshipp over Pawtuckett River ... a little
up the streame from the place where mr Blaxton his
house formerly stood, at the ancient Roade way the
which leadeth to the plaine on your side of the River
called the westerne Plaine" (now called Seekonk
Plain), and that notice of this improvement was thus
formally given that the townspeople of Rehoboth
"may doe the like." "Mr. Blaxton his house" was
the well-known residence of the recluse and student,
William Blackstone. It stood on the east bank of the
Pawtucket, or Blackstone River, about three miles
above the present city of Pawtucket, and just within
that famous debatable ground of the eighteenth
century known as the " Attleborough Gore." " The
county road leading towards Mendon" was also laid
out by Rehoboth in the fall of this same year, and
served to connect Providence, as well as Rehoboth,
with the settlements farther north.

From this time forward new settlers of practical
ability and progressive ideas began to appear in the
town. They were heralded by a vanguard of transi-
tory visitors of the type of John Brooks of Water-
town, who brought to Providence to sell, in 1699, "a
percell of Goodes to the value of 10 lb. . . . being
Hatts, stuffs, & silks, & some other small Matters as
Needles &c." This method of bringing goods in
easily portable quantities obtained until well into

148 "Providence in Colonial Times

the eighteenth century. A room was hired, wares
were displayed, and after a few days of barter and
bargain the pack was again made ready for the road,
lightened by the amount of the peddler's bill for
board and lodging, if not by the local demand for
such luxuries as hats and needles.

The casual stranger was, indeed, expected to show
cause for coming at all, and also to explain why he
should not be speeded on his way without delay. At
first it appeared as though the commendable im-
provements just enumerated were made rather for
the purpose of getting rid of would-be immigrants
with celerity and despatch than with any desire to
induce outsiders to make Providence their home.
Men, women, and children were unceremoniously
warned out of the town for fear that in time to come
they might prove "chargeable." Particular cases
proved so numerous that in 1687 a general order was
issued to the "select men" to "Remoove out of our
towne all such persons who in their judgments may
be Chargeable or troublesom."

There were exceptions to the rule, however, and no
little perspicacity was displayed in their selection.
A notable case in point is that of Gideon Crawford,
who, in 1687, "desired of the towne to Reside
amongst them, & here to follow his way of dealeing
in goods." The town promptly "granted him Lib-
erty so to doe." This leniency was amply justified.
Before the month was ended the "new-comer" had

A Group of Newcomers 149

married Freelove Fenner, the daughter of Captain
Arthur, a woman who inherited a goodly share of
her father's energy and business abihty, and proved
herself a veritable helpmate to the rising young mer-
chant. Crawford's "way of dealeing in goods" was
sufficiently acceptable to justify him, three years
later, in asking for "aboutt thirtie Foot of ground
Laying by the watter syd," next the warehouse lot of
his father-in-law, and across the way from that lot on
theTowne Street where, at a later day, his own man-
sion-house was to stand. The memory of his ware-
house and wharf is still preserved for us in the busy
thoroughfare of Crawford Street, where paving-
stones have displaced the river-bank, and electric
cars grind back and forth in lieu of the leisurely-
moving oldtime sloops and schooners.

Here warehouses were built, with a wharf along-
side the channel, and soon a flourishing business was
established by this canny Scot, whose estate, on his
death in 1707, amounted to no less than ;^I556, ex-
clusive of "book debts," or amounts due for goods
sold on credit.

Two boats are found in the list of Gideon Craw-
ford's worldly goods, one, "out of repare," the other
a flat-bottomed affair, valued at one pound, fifteen
shillings. His supply of "shopp Goods" came to
£ZSS- 9- o, and there were £^^S' lo- o due "by bills
& bonds." Several articles of actual luxury appear
among the items of household furniture. There are

1 5 o "Providence in Colonial Times

" Table Cloaths & Napkins, i lookeing glass, Win-
dow hangers. Tables & Carpetts," for a carpet was in
that day and generation the covering for a table or
cupboard, not for a floor. The supply of ** plate'* is
set down at ;^i5. ii. o. The "bookes" came to £i.
12. o. His capable widow at once determined to
continue to deal in goods, in her husband's stead,
that her two sons, at that time nineteen and fourteen
years of age, might in due course succeed to a well-
established business. She survived her husband only
by five years, but they were years of moment, for the
Crawford family in particular and for the town of
Providence in general. To her oldest boy — "my
son William" — she bequeathed all her part of the
sloop Dolphin, "it being already registered in his
name"; while to both sons, William and John, was
left her half "of the sloop building by Nathaniel
Brown of Rehoboth." Brown was another "new-
comer," and the proprietor of the first shipyard on
the West Side of the Great River.

Mrs. Crawford's sons married sisters, the daugh-
ters of Colonel Joseph Whipple, who at one time kept
an inn on Mill Street, but is better known to local
fame as a well-to-do merchant, and colonel of the
regiment of militia raised on the mainland in 17 19.
He long outlived his sons-in-law, William and John
Crawford, who died in 1720 and 17 19, respectively.
These young men were well entitled to be classed as
merchants, in the larger sense of that somewhat
elastic term.

A Group of Newcomers 1 5 ^

Captain John Crawford died when twenty-six. He
owned books which were valued at ;^8. lo. o, while
his family plate, including "silver spoones Porren-
gers Cupps pepper boxes & grator,'* amounted to
;^30. ID. o. There were also "2 Jappand Tables."
"2 boats in theire now Condition" are put down at
£\o. "i New sloope upon the stocks almost fin-
ished" was judged to be worth £Z^. "Lumber on
bord the sloope Indian King" was appraised at ;^89.
07. o, and "the said sloope and appurtinanses" at
;^2io. His stock in trade included "5 pipes of wine,"
molasses, brandy, cider, indigo, "stript holland,
muslin, Calico, bengall tape, Cambrick, kenting, Ala-
mode & persian silck & handkercheifs ; Romaul Lin-
ing, Cantaloones Crape and Caleminco," — stuffs
whose very names are mysteriously suggestive of the
burning sun and spicy breezes of the southern seas.

It would be interesting to know if Captain John
Crawford purchased his stock in trade of the mer-
chants of Newport, already a well-known centre of
maritime interests, or if the Dutch served as the
means of communication between the East and this
remote corner of the Western world. Or it may be
that, even at this early date in the commercial affairs
of Providence, the wide-awake Yankees of Boston
were shipping occasional lots of assorted merchandise
to be sold on commission by the Providence traders.
Some thirty years later, this was the regular course of
procedure. Not until several generations have come

1 5 2 Trovidence in Colonial Times

and gone shall we find Providence merchantmen
clearing for the Orient.

Both John and William Crawford lived at the
north end of the Towne Street, — John on the old
John Whipple Inn (1664) lot, at the corner of
Mill Street. His next-door neighbor was Jonathan
Sprague, famed throughout the country-side for the
rigor and vigor with which he upheld the orthodoxy
of the "Six-Principle" Baptists. Captain Crawford's
house was greatly admired by his friends and neigh-
bors, and served as a landmark in that end of the
town for many years.

The personal estate of Captain Crawford's brother,
Major William, is almost overwhelming in the sump-
tuousness of its household appointments. The differ-
ent rooms are carefully designated. There was an
"East Chamber," a northwest chamber, a "Create
Chamber," a "West Chamber," a garret, a "Create
Roome" (evidently the living-room), a "Bed
Roome," a dairy, lean-to, and kitchen. Then come
the various warehouses, — " the Rum warehouse,
the Salt warehouse, the north warehouse, the shopp,
and the back shopp." Besides these accommoda-
tions, the Major owned a "new house," and two
barns. His "sloope Sarah boate," evidently named
for his wife, Sarah Whipple, was appraised at four
hundred pounds. In the "back shopp" were goods
amounting to sixteen pounds, the greater part being
tools of different sorts, while the shop proper held

Peter Randall House

Opposite the North Burying Ground. Built about 1755.
From a photograph taken in 1902.

John Crawford House

Mill Street. Built about 1710, torn down 1898. From
a photograph in the Rhode Island Historical Society
taken in 1865.

A Group of Newcomers 1 5 3

a choice and varied assortment of dry goods. Here
were combs, buttons, gloves, "buckles of divers
sorts," Holland, diaper, silk crape, and poplin, to-
gether with whetstones, seeds, weights and scales,
scythes, beeswax, and "odd things."

The Major was also prepared to furnish rum,
sugar, molasses, salt, wool, tobacco, and grain to the
public of Providence and vicinity. His market ex-
tended up the river to Pawtucket and the farms of
Smithfield, southward to the settlers along the line of
the Narragansett shore, and included also the towns
of northeastern Connecticut, — Woodstock, Plain-
field, and Pomfret. It is not to be wondered at that
when the road connecting Pomfret with Providence
was completed in 1721, after thirteen years of toil
and stress, the first care of its capable supervisor,
Nathaniel Sessions, was to import a load of West-
India goods from the enterprising market-town at
the head of Narragansett Bay for the delectation of
his inland neighbors. It was then ten years since the
town of Providence had "stated" a highway from
Captain Fenner's dwelling, "westward up into the
Countrey towards Plainfield." It is exceedingly
doubtful, however, if this highway could be traced
otherwise than by the surveyor's slashes and blazes,
notwithstanding the fact that a "draught of the said
high way" was duly presented to the town, and for-
mally "perused," and approved. In 171 1, the Colo-
nial Assembly ordered a highway "laid out . . .

154 "Providence in Colonial Times

through Providence, Warwick, and West Greenwich
to Plainfield," and in 17 14 this long-contemplated
improvement became a reality.

The year 171 1 was signalized by another under-
taking of great moment. There still exists recorded
evidence to show that in January, 171 1, there was
*'a Bridg building or at least some progress made in
order thereunto, over the passage at way Bossett."
Seven years earlier, in July, 1704, it had been sug-
gested to the town-meeting that public opinion
should be sounded as to the advisability of building
a bridge " from theTowne side of the salt Water . . .
begining against the West End of the lott whereon
Daniel Abbott his dwelling house standeth & so
Cross the Water unto the hill Called Wayboysett."
For, since the day when George Shepard's donation
had been conscientiously returned to him because of
the town's failure " to maintain a bridge at Waybos-
set," the "passing to & from'* the east and west
banks of the river had been accomplished by means
of "Cannoes & Boates, Rideing & Carting, & Swim-
ming over of Cattell from side to side." Nor was the
voyage without its difficulties. The town records
gravely deplore the fact that the stream is "often
times Running so swift, & many times Rough Water
by Reason of stormy Winds, whereby neither Can-
noes Boates nor Cattell swimming can make any
certain place to land, but must land where they can
git on shore."

A Group of Newcomers 1 5 5

It was in furtherance of this desirable termination
of the voyage, that the town fathers were moved to
take into consideration "how greatly detrementall"
it would be if there should be "a grant of ware house
lotts all along the Salt Water by theTowne Streete,"
and to decree that no "ware house lotts" should
be granted from Crawford Street on the south to
*' Thomas Olney senior his house lott which was
formerly his father's dwelling place," on the north.

Further investigation leads us to invest this out-
burst of humanitarian enthusiasm with a tinge of
self-interest. It can hardly be doubted that the
greater proportion of travel across the river, whether
by man or beast, was by means of the ford at the
"Wading Place," while it is not improbable that the
farmers of the settlement objected to see their friends
and neighbors in "the compact part of the town"
parcel out warehouse lots and wharf privileges
among themselves, to the detriment of future "land
dividends." There were many wheels within wheels
to be found in the governing machinery of the " Pro-
prietors' Meetings" in the town of Providence, nor
was the town-meeting unmoved by the opposing
claims to consideration of the town and country
factions.

The number of warehouse lots was, then, jealously
restricted, for the time being. The bridge was, how-
ever, permitted to occupy that portion of the water-
side explicitly denoted above.

15^ TProvidence in Colonial Times

A little to the south of the proposed bridge, and
"against the southerne part" of Thomas Field's
home lot, land had already been "laid out" for the
first " Towne wharfe." " The aforesaid Towne
Wharfe Place" was never utilized, however, and
when the Town Wharf became a reality it was placed
just north of Weybosset Bridge, on the shore where
now stands the Board of Trade Building. The bridge
which was in process of construction in 1 7 1 1 was,
two years later, an accomplished fact, and designated
accordingly as "Providence Bridge at Wayboysett"
in the records of that year.

Thus far, the tale of the Providence highways has
been concerned with such main avenues of traffic as
might serve both town and country — although it
may be added that the distinction between rural and
urban was one of theory far more than of fact. Local
accommodation was usually a matter for argument,
often decided in favor of the farmers, who were fre-
quently given permission to fence in the highways
with their fields, providing cart gates were placed at
the roadway for the so-called "Conveniency of Pub-
lick passage."

That this was not always done is shown by the
facts narrated in the bill of John Dexter, the grand-
son of the original proprietor of that name. In 1720,
Captain Dexter represented his situation to the town
as follows. A lot of eighty acres having been " laid
out at Scoakanoxit" to his grandfather, descended by

A Group of Newcomers 157

inheritance to himself. There he had Hved, sown his
seed, and gathered his crops for six-and-twenty
years. Little by little, during that time, the land
around him had been taken up, until the road leading
to town was completely "stopped up." "So that I
cannot . . . come at any Road That Leads Either to
mill or market with my Team : nor yet on foot nor on
horse back, but as I have leve of Jonathan Sprague
to pass through his meadow & ... I am of opinion
that this . . . will be the first precedent that Ever
was Set in New England, That after a man has laid
out Land & built upon it, for other men to lay out
Land Round his, & thereby Compell him to buy a
high way to pass off his own land to get into a comon
Roade," said the justly indignant farmer, who, not
without reason, desired the town "to lay out a con-
veniant high way . . . to pass in from my own Land
to the Road which comes out of our Northern woods
into the Town."

John Dexter's predicament belongs to a class of
fairly numerous instances, although in most cases of
the sort a public utility was put forward by the com-
plainant as the real end to be served. When Dexter
wrote, a highway had already been "stated" from
Richard Arnold's mill on the Wanasqua tucket to
"Wainskuck," and a similar convenience in getting
to town was granted at the instance of the farmers in
the Neutaconkonet district. The fertile lands of the
outlying country were fast being utilized to raise

1 5 8 ^Providence in Colonial Times

crops of grain and hay, and harvests of wool. When
once the red man had been so far subdued that his
white "brothers" could feel that he existed by suffer-
ance only, a great expansion of the colony's field of
agricultural operations took place. Homesteads on
the Towne Street fell to pieces, and home lots were
used for pasturage, while the Olneys, Whipples, Ab-
botts, and Watermans went north and west, to take
up the land and possess it.

Their place in the town's centre was filled, little by
little, with newcomers. Some of these were men of
small means, but possessed of energy and abiUty
enabling them to work their way upward. The aver-
age newcomer probably remained on sufferance for
the first few years. Then he bought a little land,
and plied his trade. His business extended, and he
opened a shop ; perhaps he bought a warehouse lot.
The next step would be a wharf and boats, at least
a sloop. At this point his investments in real estate
would increase, and in the recorded land deeds of
these later years of a long and prosperous life, we
shall find our investor described as "gentleman," or
"Esquire," having previously passed through the
various social gradations, as "yeoman," "cooper,"
"trader," and "merchant."

As a rule, craftsmen were welcomed. In 1704,
William Edmunds received a grant of "forty foote
square ... he being desireous to follow his trade
of a black smith with in this Towne." William Smith

A Group of Newcomers 1 5 9

was "accommodated'* in a similar manner, "he
being desirous to follow his Weavours Trade."
There were pursuits, however, which were forbidden
by virtue of that deep-rooted conservatism under-
lying the mental operations of every New-England
farmer. When "one Mr. Gabriel Bernon Exhibited a
bill desireing . . . theuseofallthepineTreesonthe
black hill & from thence to Pawtucket River ... to
leake them & make Pitch of the Tirpintine," mem-
ories of the "pitch-wood candles" of their grand-
fathers forbade acquiescence, and the " Towne did
not see Cause to Grant the bill."

This enterprising newcomer was one of the most
interesting and valuable of those civic acquisitions
whose arrival was facilitated by better communica-
tion with the outside world. Gabriel Bernon was a
Huguenot who saw ample cause to leave his home at
Rochelle in those ominous years preceding the Re-
vocation of the Edict of Nantes. Like many another
of his exiled countrymen he went to Amsterdam, and
then crossed the Channel, but after a short residence
in England, came to America. As a merchant of
Rochelle he had traded in the fish and furs of Can-
ada, and knew well the colonial markets and the
fast-growing demand for English goods in the new
communities beyond the seas. He became a man of
considerable wealth, viewed from the colonial stand-
point. Within a short time he had established rosin
and salt manufactures at Boston, and was known and

1 6o "Providence in Colonial Times

esteemed far beyond the borders of the colony in
which he made his new home. From Boston he went
to Newport, and from there to Providence, where he
became perhaps the leading member in a little group
of remarkable men whose influence made itself felt in
or about the year 1720, and gained strength and en-
ergy from the fact that they made their homes in one
neighborhood.

Several of these newcomers took a lively and
effective interest in the building-up of religious soci-
eties other than that of the Baptists. The first of these
efforts to arouse a more active interest in things of the
spirit resulted in the establishment of King's Church,
in 1722.

For more than twenty years the standard of the
Church of England had been ably upheld in New-
port, "the metropolis" of the colony. As early as
1702, these worthy subjects of good Queen Anne
could boast a church "finished all on the Outside,
and the Inside Pewed well, tho' not beautiful." With
the aid of the active and benevolent "Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel," a clergyman for this
parish was soon forthcoming in the person of James
Honeyman.

Mr. Honeyman's field of labor was bounded only
by the possible extent of a day's ride on horseback.
His charge included several towns on the mainland,
as well as those on the island of Rhode Island, and it
was to him that the little band of the faithful in

Relics which belonged to Gabriel Bernon

From an old painting in the Rhode Island Historical
Society. The original relics — the sword, delft jar, gold
rattle, and psalter — are now owned by the Society.

t'l /" >> t

'n Col

. - : ... in

erq:th and en-

in one

viOHaaS jaiaaAt) or aaijuojaa hjihw^ 8Dija>i

. • •< •• '■> f" K ) i J t/;'s Chu rch,

IfiohoJaiH bnelel oLorf^ sHj ni gnbnkq bio' ns rnoi'?
blog (iBJ. rtbb ,biow8 grlJ — aoibi knigho sriT .x^aboS
•XJaboS adJ xd baiiVro WoQi&iB -T^iaStfifet^'JaftE'lakrdfBirhr

hiects of pT>od O^

n lor Uiis
M V . , > L jr I J- i . , >a of James

f labor was bounded only
of a day*s ride on horseback,
i several towxi n^S.^

on the island of Rhode Is
^ *he httle band of the i.w

Yfty

A Group of Newcomers 1 6 1

Providence turned for counsel and guidance. It
cannot have been far from 1720 when he wrote to
his official superiors in London to represent "very
earnestly . . . the Want of a Missionary at the
Town called Providence, ... a Place very con-
siderable from the Number of its Inhabitants," who
— sad to say — "were become quite rude, and void
of all Knowledge in Religion; yet they were of a good
and teachable Disposition." At a later time he wrote
that he had preached in Providence " to the greatest
Number of People, that he ever had together since he
came to America."

This newly awakened interest in religious matters
was due in large measure to the efforts of Gabriel
Bernon, who had made Providence his home, surely
since 17 10, and, it may be, even earlier. His request
for permission "to leake" the pine trees was made in
1702. Bernon was among the foremost in establish-
ing the Church of England worship at Newport, and
in the Narraganset country. The well-known and
indefatigable Doctor MacSparran had been recently
settled as incumbent of the last-mentioned parish,
and to him Bernon and his friend, "Mr. Nathaniel
Brown of Kittlepoint," applied for aid to institute a
similar service at Providence.

"Nathaniel Brown of Kittlepoint" has already
figured in the industrial annals of the town. He it
was who built the sloop described as in process of
construction by Mrs. Freelove Crawford, in her last

1 6 2 "Providence in Colonial Times

will and testament. In January, 17 12, he was given
half an acre of land *'on the East side of Waybosset
Neck adjoineing to the salt water ... for building
of vessells thereon." This grant was near the corner
of what are now Pine and Orange Streets. At a later
date it became part of a larger shipyard belonging to
Roger Kinnicutt, likewise a newcomer from the Bay
Colony. No sooner was his grant recorded than the
enterprising Mr. Brown was ready for business, and
in May of the same year he was filling orders for the
mariners and merchants of Providence. His interest
in promoting the cause of the Church of England in
the town was as practically heartfelt as had been his
zeal to establish a business connection. When the
moment for action arrived, and his fellow-worship-
pers resolved "to get a minister and live like Chris-
tians," it was Nathaniel Brown who gave the lot
on the Towne Street, where the present St. John's
Church stands, "for the Glory and Honour of God,
and Promoting the Society and Communion of the
Church of England in these Remote partes of the
World, as the same is by law established."

Next door to the Church with which he thus identi-
fied himself Nathaniel Brown's dwelling-house was
to stand. Mr. Dorr tells us that it was of two stories,
with a huge brick chimney at the north end, and that
it was standing in 1842. It is interesting to think
of the pious warden of King's Church setting up his
household gods on the home lot of the Quaker en-

A Group of Newcomers 163

thusiast, Richard Scott, who, many a long year be-
fore, had labored in the interests of the missionaries
of the Friends as they testified to the faith that was in
them. On the opposite side of the Towne Street, a
little further north, lived Gabriel Bernon himself.
Next door to Bernon was William Outram or Antrim,
whom Bernon briefly characterizes in a letter to the
Reverend Mr. Honeynian as "a mathematician."

It was through the exertions and influence of such
men as these, backed by certain of the more progres-
sive among the descendants of the "first-comers,"
that the necessary funds for building King's Church
were obtained. The estimable Doctor Humphreys,
historian of the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel, has given us an account of the Providence
of his day, from the Church of England standpoint.
"The People . . . were negligent of all Religion till
about the Year 1722," he says; "the very best were
such as called themselves Baptists or Quakers, but it
was feared many were Gortoneans or Deists." He
describes the town as twenty miles square, with a
population at the time of writing (1728) of about four
thousand. As for the people, who "live dispersed
over this large Township, they are industrious, em-
ployed chiefly in Husbandry & Handy crafts, tho'
very lately they have begun to enter upon Foreign
Trade & Navigation." "Out of all these, there was a
small Number, who . . . seriously reflecting on that
irreligious State wherein they lived . . . began to

164 "Providence in Colonial Times

gather Contributions among themselves. . . . The
Chief Contributor was Colonel Joseph Whipple,"
who gave one hundred pounds and "victualed" the
laborers. This was the father-in-law of William and
John Crawford. He died in 1 746, at the age of eighty-
five. Generous outsiders also contributed.

Not improbably the two hundred pounds given by
the people of the island of Rhode Island, and the one
hundred pounds which came from Boston, were ob-
tained through the efforts of Gabriel Bernon, who
was well known in both places, and esteemed by all
who knew him. Altogether, there were seven hun-
dred and seventy pounds available to pay for the
" Timber Building ... 62 Feet in Length, 41 in
Breadth, & 26 high," which was " raised on St. Bar-
nabas Day, 1722."

Just a week before this date, Gabriel Bernon had
written to Mr. Honeyman to represent the qualifica-
tions essential for the future rector of King's Church
in Providence. After some discussion of the subject,
Mr. Pigot, who had been sent to Stratford, Connecti-
cut, by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel,
was removed to Providence, where, says Bernon, we
pray God he will prove "a good and orthodox minis-
ter." And indeed, this worthy divine appears to have
creditably fulfilled all expectations. His congregation
of about one hundred received constant additions,
and in the last year of his pastorate — 1727 — he
reported to the Society that he had baptized "eleven

St. John's Church

i
P.
Society Library.

Built 1722 and demolished 1 8 10. From a drawing, made
by Zachariah Allen, in the Rhode Island Historical

.^nrsicti J ^i^jQ^y^- -■■

A Group of Newcomers 165

Children, three grown Persons, and the Communi-
cants were forty-four."

The Reverend Mr. Pigot is said to have been "of a
roving disposition." Whether owing to the attrac-
tions of the "open road," or for other reasons, his
residence in Providence terminated in 1727. His
successor, one Joseph O'Hara, left behind him a
record far from enviable. His estimable contempo-
rary, Mr. Comer, a Baptist minister of Newport,
states in his diary that after O'Hara "had preached
two or three days, . . . he published himself to Mrs,
Alice Whipple of Providence," — in all probability
the daughter of Colonel Joseph, whose social promi-
nence and liberal contributions must have entitled
him to a leading position among the members of this
little flock. But alas! for Mrs. Alice's hopes of happi-
ness. The rumor that O'Hara was already married
crept abroad, and was speedily confirmed by the
appearance of his wife on the scene of action. The
unabashed divine vehemently denied her claims,
but, says Comer, "he was defeated of his intended
match." The pious narrator straightway proceeds
to point the moral of his tale. "'T is observed," he
tells us, "that the last Lord's Day he preached in the
church, he was by an extraordinary gust of wind
forced out of the church in the time of service. It
blew in a large window at the west end, and very
much shook the whole house. The next Lord's day
his people refused his preaching."

1 66 "Providence in Colonial Times

O'Hara's ejection was but temporary. For some
eight months longer he persisted in holding his posi-
tion and in fulfilling some portion of its functions. It
was not until his forcible "breaking open the doors
of the church, which his people had fastened up,"
having first signified their lack of sympathy by
"hauling him out of his pulpit," that the turbulent
priest was finally sent to jail at Newport as a dis-
turber of the peace, and thus effectually disposed of.

O'Hara was succeeded by Arthur Browne, also an
Irishman, who had been educated at Trinity College,
Dublin, and is said to have come to America with
Dean Berkeley, in 1729. It was in the following year
that Browne entered on his pastorate in Providence,
where he soon won the respect and affection of his
people. A glebe of eighteen acres, with a dwelling-
house, was presented to Browne by his appreciative
parishioners, and the bread thus cast upon the waters
returned to the little congregation in true scriptural
fashion, for when Arthur Browne removed to Ports-
mouth he presented the parish with the glebe and
rectory for the "repairing and upholding the Church
of England in Providence."

Until within a few years the old parsonage was
still standing on the Swan Point Road, now alas!
rechristened, Morris Avenue. It was a mile and a
half from King's Church on the Towne Street, and its
somewhat remote situation was selected for the great-
er convenience of the numerous church-members

A Group of Newcomers 167

living in Rehoboth, who were thus brought more
nearly into contact with their church and its rector.
Rehoboth, as a Massachusetts town, was under the
domination of " The Standing Order " of Congre-
gationalism, and many of its citizens who dissented
from the established creed found solace in this neigh-
borly shelter for spiritual refugees. The parsonage
remained in the possession of the Society until 1794.

Mr. Browne's pastorate was marked by another
enterprise of no little pith and moment. "A Church
schoolmaster," George Taylor by name, and an
Englishman, was, in 1735, given permission by the
Colonial Assembly "to keep school in one of the
chambers of the county house at Providence," under
certain specified conditions, one of which was that
"the glass of said house" should be kept "in con-
stant good repair." It was left to the schoolmaster to
decide whether this desirable consummation should
be reached by means of a precautionary discipline,
or by forced contributions in the event of actual
damage. Mr. Taylor was also required to "erect a
handsome sundial in the front of said house, both
for ornament and use." In the absence of either
town-clock or bell, no doubt the dial filled a long-
felt want. We may easily imagine each urchin
trudging home to his midday dinner, and pausing
to note the creeping shadow, whose progress was so
wonderfully slow at certain times of the day, and
so astonishingly rapid at others.

1 6 8 "Providence in Colonial Times

The educational advantages to be obtained in the
Providence of the "good old colony times" were
chiefly conspicuous by their absence. Land for a
school was, it is true, set aside in 1663, and formally
designated as the "school house lot." But twenty
years later, Jonathan Whipple, Junior, called the
attention of the town-meeting to the fact that the
land intended "for the use and Bennifitt of a
Schoole" had not yet been "la yd out."

Shortly after this, William Turpin, innkeeper, put
in a "Humble request" wherein he styles himself
"now schoolemaster of theTowne," and desires that
"the aforesaid Land: May bee forthwith la yd out
... & that the said Master or his heires may bee
invested in the said Land soe long as hee or any of
them shall maintaine that worthy art of Learneing."
Our knowledge of Turpin's qualifications to "Main-
taine that worthy art" are limited to the conditions
of a contract signed by him in 1684, whereby he en-
gaged to furnish little Peregrine Gardner with board
and schooling for one year, for the sum of six pounds.
One half the year's expenses were paid in beef, pork,
and corn, and one half in silver money. The boy's
course of study was also stipulated. He was to be in-
structed in reading and writing, and if Mr. Turpin
had the gift of imparting to his pupils his own beauti-
fully clear handwriting, his "art" was surely worthy
of perpetuation.

Turning from this circumscribed field of action,

*-1f*»f'

Oath of Samuel Winsor, 171 3

Regarding card-playing by William Turpin and Edward
Hawkins. From the original document in the Moses
Brown Papers, vol. 18, p. 69, in the Rhode Island His-
torical Society.

.pork,

dd oi action,

ff-c^5«7^:|K »^^^

f^t^r

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if.

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^ill^giLSiM!£jSau^<i:dMi&<

A Group of Newcomers 169

Turpin devoted himself to real estate with more
marked success. The Turpin farm at the north end
of the town included land on both sides of the river,
while the Turpin Inn, on the Towne Street, was long
a favorite centre for townsmen and councilmen,
and a well-known stopping-place for travellers. Ten
years slipped by after Turpin's petition in the inter-
ests of education, before the town finally granted "a
small spot of land to sett a schoole house,'* near
Dexter's Lane or Stompers Hill, provided that the
lot was improved and the schoolhouse built " in some
Considerable time." Turpin's name is among those
of the eight substantial townsmen to whom this grant
was made. So far as can be ascertained, its condi-
tions had not been fulfilled at the time of his death,
in 1709.

That public opinion in Providence would have
pronounced the "worthy art of Learneing" to be
among the luxuries rather than the necessities of life
is well known. The neighboring town across the
Seekonk made provision for a school as early as 1677.
In 1725, John Comer records in his diary that he is
engaged to teach school in Swansea, at a salary of
forty-four pounds a year. George Taylor received
from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
ten pounds a year. Two years after his installation
as schoolmaster he stated that he had twenty-three
white and two black children under his care, whom
he catechised on Wednesday and Saturday. The

1 70 ^Providence in Colonial Times

intervening days were profitably passed in explaining
the principles of religion, which they had learned by
heart. Mr. Taylor was warden of King's Church and
justice of the peace, as well as schoolmaster. An
ancient silver paten, still belonging to the parish, was
presented by him. It bears the inscription, "An
Oblation of G. T. Schoolmaster for the Use of the
Altar in the Church of England, at Providence,
N. E., 1748."

Arthur Browne's successor, the Reverend John
Checkley, was a man of varied and interesting attrib-
utes, who had proved himself a worthy soldier of the
church militant long before he was enrolled among
the leaders of its army. He was born in Boston, in
1680, and was a pupil at the Boston Latin School.
His education was completed at Oxford, and he
travelled in Europe sufficiently to enable him to
collect books, manuscripts, and paintings. He is said
to have been a man of extraordinary intellectual
ability, and a keen and appreciative scholar. His
conversational powers were especially extolled, both
for the elegance and ease which marked his words,
and for his racy humor and inexhaustible fund of
anecdote. He was regarded as one of the wits of his
time, and his bons-mots were current for a whole
generation.

In 17 17, he opened, in Boston, a variety store,
known as the "Crown and Blue-Gate." This little
shop speedily became a well-known literary and

Title-page of Rev. John Checkley's "Modest
Proof," Boston, 1723.

From a copy in the Rhode Island Historical Society.

V^liUiCi

' ■ •F.sTi ,woT8o9 ",^ooH*I : ,lk:<j among

a,"

id a k

. luih- a. . -iiciu.iy ^i^u

MODEST PROOF

OF THE

Order & Government

Settled by Chrifl and his Apoftks

I N T H E

CHURCH

BY SHEWING

I. What Sacred Offices were Inflicutcd

by them.
IJ. How tliofc Officf^s were Diftinguiflied.

III. That they were to be Perpetual and
Standing in the Chiv/cli ' And,

IV. Who Succeed in them, and rightly
Execute them to this Day.

Reconwicnded as paper to be pit into the Hands of the Laity

BOSTON:
Re-printed by Tho. Fleet, and are to be Sold
by Benjamin Eliot in Bofion, Daniel Aurault in
NeTi^port, Gabriel Bemon in Frovidenc, Mr
Gallop in Briflol, Mr. Jean in Stratfird, ant^.
in.moft other Towns within the Colonies ot
Connecliciit and Rho^le-Jjland. 1725^

.cJ^'i^

A Group of Newcomers 171

social centre, and before many months had passed
it was no secret that here strange doctrines as to the
apostoHc and divine origin of the episcopate were
boldly and eloquently set forth by the proprietor. In
1 7 19, the enterprising bookseller offered to the Bos-
ton public two pamphlets supporting his views. The
Massachusetts authorities considered it time to act,
and called on Checkley to take the oaths of allegiance
and abjuration, since he rested under suspicion of
disaffection to His Majesty's Government. Checkley
indignantly refused. The matter came before the
court, and he was forced to pay a fine of six pounds,
and to find sureties for his good behavior until such
time as he should be ready to take the required oaths.
This was not until 1724. In the mean time Checkley
had visited England, and it is believed that he offered
himself as a candidate for Holy Orders. If so, his
attitude in the matter of taking the oaths would, of
course, have led to his unqualified rejection.

Nor had the godly and orthodox divines of Boston
been idle. A hailstorm of confuting pamphlets ap-
peared in answer to Checkley's attack, and these
were, in due course, met by rejoinders, and reissues
of the irritating cause of the disturbance. In one
form or another the contest was waged without inter-
mission during the next fourteen years, for it was not
until 1738 that Checkley, after repeated rejection,
was finally admitted to orders in the Church of Eng-
land. A man of fifty-eight, he took up with enthusi-

172 Trovidence in Colonial Times

asm a new career and a future whose promises were
far from brilliant. He was immediately appointed
missionary at Providence, on a salary of sixty pounds
a year. For many reasons the appointment was
eminently satisfactory. He would thus be within
reach of his old home and his old friends at Boston,
while in Mr. Honeyman, of Newport, and Doctor
MacSparran, of Narragansett, he would have con-
genial fellow-workers as well as old and tried friends.
His new parishioners received him with "most
unfeigned thanks," and he was soon deeply engaged
in his work, far beyond the official limits of his task.
He preached at Attleborough, at Warwick, and
sometimes at Taunton. He worked enthusiastically
and successfully among the Indians, and he acted,
at different times, as tutor. His private library was
much more extensive than that of the ordinary New-
England minister, numbering nearly one thousand
volumes ; among these were many folios and quartos
in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French, and other lan-
guages. His letters to the Venerable Society tell us of
his work and the conditions under which he labored.
In the first year of his ministry he baptized twenty-
six persons, " visited almost all the Indians remaining
in this part of the Country . . . and Built a Barn
and Stable upon the Glebe," and this by borrowing
money at twelve per cent. He laments the unavoid-
able outlay, as otherwise he "would lay out some
Mony in England for Books against. Atheism and

A Group of Newcomers 173

Infidelity : That Poison being widely diffused through
this Country." He adds that the house and glebe are
"not yet wholly paid for, nor all the windows of the
Church quite mended that were broken by the dread-
ful Storm of Hail the last year."

This account of the somewhat forlorn conditions
obtaining in his new field of work was written in the
early November of 1740. It was not until two years
later that the damage done by the "Storm of Hail"
was completely repaired, and then under the influence
of the religious zeal of a stranger. In the fall of 1742,
Mr. Checkley judged it advisable to explain his atti-
tude "respecting Mr. Gilbert Tennent." He afl^rms
that "The Town of Providence was in an Uproar
. . . running after Mr. Tennent, who prayed and
then discoursed to the people, morning, noon and
night." It was evident to Checkley that if he adopted
a policy of silent contempt, he would probably lose a
large proportion of his small congregation. He there-
fore wisely took the bull by the horns, and "pub-
lickly invited Mr. Tennent and his numerous Fol-
lowers to come to Church . . . where I would per-
form Divine Service and preach a Sermon. They did
accordingly come, a very numerous Assembly . . .
from whom, after Divine Service, I had a Collection
of Mony which effectually mended our Church win-
dows broken by the Hail, which we were not able
to mend."

We may easily imagine the humorous twinkle of

1 74 "Providence in Colonial Times

the eye with which the good rector pocketed this spoil
from the Egyptians. A bit of natural curiosity was
his also. He proceeds to say that Mr. Tennent an-
nounced his intention to preach in King's Church in
the afternoon. "I did not contradict it. For, the
truth is, I had a great Desire to see what they would
be at; that I might be the better able to oppose
them," — an argument of justification by no means
new, even in that day. He then describes the after-
noon service, and concludes by saying that he had "a
great Deal of private conversation" with Mr. Ten-
nent, which he hopes "did him [Tennent] good."
With the Evangelical revivalists, as such, Mr.
Checkley had little sympathy. He says, in connec-
tion with his account of Tennent's visit to Provi-
dence, "no Minister in the Country hath opposed
their mad proceedings more than I have done," and
his description of the New Lights and their extrava-
gances, in 1 75 1, is that of a typical Church of Eng-
land rector.

Checkley was none the less an eager laborer in the
vineyard. He frequently preached at Taunton,
twenty miles distant from his home, and at times
went fifty miles, through snow and flood, to admin-
ister the sacraments. And this in the extraordinarily
severe winter of 1740 and 1741, when Narragansett
Bay was frozen solid, so that people drove from New-
port to Providence, while the snow lay on the ground
so late into the spring that hundreds of sheep starved,

A Group of Newcomers 1 7 5

and the fruit trees did not blossom until the middle of
June.

That his work was arduous we know, and that the
results were not always encouraging we may infer
from his report for a half-year's labor respecting the
"Converts from a profane disorderly and Unchris-
tian course of life, to a life of Christian purity meek-
ness and Charity." The number of the reclaimed
was two. In 1742, a parochial Library was sent him
by the Society, for which "most hearty Thanks"
were rendered. Five years later he asks for "some
Common Prayer Books with Brady & Tate's Psalms,
... & some Silver-covered Primers for the Chil-
dren, whose Parents are highly pleased by the
distribution of such jine books."

In 1 75 1 he writes in some perturbation of spirit:
"No man can think (who is an utter stranger to
them) what strange objections the People raise
against the Sacraments ; I mean such People as have
been dragged up in Schism, or rather many of them,
in no religion : the former (if possible) being Worse
than the Latter. . . . The Infidels & the New-
Lights rage most furiously against the Ordinances of
Christ being necessary to Salvation. The Enthusias-
tic New-Lights affirming nothing necessary but what
they wildly call Conversion. That is screaming and
tumbling about on the Floor, young Men & Women
ten or 12 promiscuously on the Floor at once . . .
always screaming, and sometimes in a most hideous

176 "Providence in Colonial Times

manner, calling upon People to come to Christ, come
to Christ, come to Christ. At the same Time declaring
to the people that the Sacraments will not carry them
to Christ, but only their being converted as they have
been. After these distracted Frolicks, and many
other, more like Demoniacs than any Thing else,
they pretend to great Joy, and Serenity of Mind,
and are then (according to their Scheme) . . . en-
tirely converted, and are infallibly sure of Salvation."

John Checkley died in harness in 1754. A daugh-
ter survived him. She had married Henry Paget of
Providence, an Irishman and an active member of
King's Church, whom the good rector had tested in
things temporal as well as things spiritual. Paget's
farm, just five miles north of King's Church, in the
town of Smithfield, was the joint purchase of himself
and his father-in-law. The spacious hip-roofed house
is still standing. Shortly before Paget's death, in
1772, this landed estate became the property of the
Arnold family.

At some time subsequent to the marriage of Mr.
Checkley's daughter the home centre seems to have
alternated between the Parsonage and the Towne
Street. At the corner of the present South Main and
College Streets (approximately) was a lot of land,
originally belonging to the home lot of Chad Brown.
It was sold by Chad Brown's descendants, and in
1746 it was owned by John Checkley, who not im-
probably paid many a pleasant visit to the house put

A Group of Newcomers ^ii

up there by his son-in-law, Henry Paget. Paget's
next-door neighbor on the south was the widow of
James Brown and the mother of the "Four Bro-
thers," "John and Jo, Nick and Mo," who were, at
the time of which we write, busily employed in mas-
tering the three "R's." Across the street Mr. Check-
ley found congenial society in the person of Samuel
Chace, a good Episcopalian, while on the other side
of the lane which led up the hill (the predecessor of
College Street), he had within reach sufficient variety
of opinion to give a spice to the life of any man.
On the corner of Presbyterian Lane and the Towne
Street was Ephraim Bowen, a stanch Presbyterian,
and adjoining Brother Bowen was the house of
Daniel Jenckes, a very strong Baptist.

We must not, however, think of Mr. Checkley and
the Pagets as dependent on the immediate neighbors
for society. The man whose visits to the outlying
heathen were only limited by his horse's powers of
endurance, would surely often jog across Great
Bridge to enjoy a chat with his friend Doctor Henry
Sweeting, whose homestead, on the site now occupied
by the firm of Barker& Chadsey, was the first house
to be built on Weybosset Point. The Sweeting con-
nection formed quite a colony. The Doctor's son and
his two married daughters were presently established
in homes close by the parent rooftree. Until within
a few years, Dunwell's Gangway, now buried under
the Banigan Building, perpetuated the memory of
his son-in-law, John Dunwell.

178 'Providence in Colonial Times

Another congenial friend of the rector, and stanch
supporter of King's Church, was John Merritt, an
Englishman of ample means and scholarly tastes,
who came to Providence, probably from Newport, in
or near 1746. Mr. Merritt was possessed of many of
the attributes of the "fine old English gentleman."
He was prosperous, liberal, and kindly, a man of
culture and experience, and yet withal a bit auto-
cratic and hot-headed. His two-hundred-acre estate
lay to the east of the present Arlington Avenue, and
extended to the banks of the Seekonk. To a later
generation it was well known as the " Moses Brown
Farm." His land was well-farmed, having two barns,
a large coach-house, a sheep-house, granary, gar-
dens, and orchards. His negro servants were care-
fully housed. His business interests were not con-
fined to Providence. He was concerned in an iron
forge at Uxbridge, in Massachusetts, and there are
still on file among the papers of Nicholas Brown and
Company letters from Mr. Merritt dealing with or-
ders and commissions to Boston and elsewhere.

He brought to Providence the first and for a long
time the only coach in the town. We may imagine
this ponderous equipage, with two (it may be four)
well-groomed horses, and liveried coachman, wend-
ing its stately way through Arlington Avenue — then
the Pawtucket Road — to Gaol Lane (now Meeting
Street), which then ran some distance east of Hope
Street — "the Highway." Gaol Lane was not, how-

A Group of Newcomers 179

ever, in any condition to serve as a carriage-road,
and we may be sure the careful driver drew a breath
of rehef when they reached Olney's Lane, and his
master's progress to the Towne Street was at last
unimpeded by gates and bars. Once started on his
travels in this imposing vehicle, Mr. Merritt must
perforce have gone to the Parade (Market Square),
for nowhere short of that point could the most experi-
enced of ''stagers" have found space to turn in the
narrow highways of Providence. It was an eventful
day for the good people of the town when Mr. Mer-
ritt called on Mr. Checkley and his lady, or on his
successor, Mr. Graves. Not improbably the congre-
gation at King's Church gained in numbers and
general esteem after the appearance at the church
door of his coach in all its splendor.

John Merritt was a liberal contributor to the
church with which he identified himself. When he
died, in 1770, "leaving the Integrity of his Heart and
many exemplary Qualifications of his Life to be cele-
brated by others," it was found that he had left to
"the Episcopal Church for its repair as to the mem-
bers for the time being may seem best, ;^ioo," and
also a lot of land adjoining the church property. To
the rector he bequeathed ";^30, and £ip worth of
Books which he may chuse out of my Library ac-
cording to the value in the Catalogue, with Rings to
him and his Lady." The library was a really amaz-
ing collection of books in the Providence of that day,

1 8 o "Providence in Colonial Times

for a man who was not a theologian. There were
many volumes of English poetry and essays, some
classics, Caesar, Horace, Marcus Aurelius, and the
plays of Sophocles, works on agriculture, dictionaries
and gazetteers, and a creditable array of volumes
dealing with theology. It is certain that, with the
exception of John Checkley, no man in town had a
library approaching that of Mr. Merritt, either in the
number of books, or their quality.

A perusal of the inventory of Mr. Checkley's per-
sonal effects will throw light on his tastes and pur-
suits. We find a "Silver Snuff box with gilt crucifix
&c.,'* and this — it is interesting to know — is still
in the possession of his descendants. There were also
a microscope and a telescope, ninety-two "pieces of
paint. Grate & Small," and " One Gold Ring," set
with diamonds. The personal property came to
;^2530. 5. o, and there was real estate to the amount
of;^iioi. 18.9. Mr. Checkley was buried in the yard
between King's Church and the street. When the
new church — the present St. John's — was built in
1 8 10, all the graves and gravestones in front of the
church disappeared. Their disposition is not known.
Many of the old gravestones were destroyed or
carted away.

When, in 1722, Gabriel Bernon wrote to Mr.
Honeyman concerning the future prospects of that
church in which they both took so keen an interest,
he mentioned, as " the three chief men of the town,"

A Group of Newcomers 1 8 1

Colonel Whipple, "Mr. Jink, our Lieutenant Gov-
ernor," and "Judge Waterman, a man of very good
parts," and if we exclude the name of Gabriel Ber-
non himself, the characterization may serve for the
moment.

"Mr. Jink" is certainly entitled to the distinction
accorded him. Joseph Jenckes was an interesting
personage. His father — also Joseph — "planted
Pawtucket," where he set up a forge and a saw-mill,
and became a person of considerable wealth and
importance. Joseph the younger distinguished him-
self in King Philip's War. Eventually he became the
commander of the militia on the mainland, with the
title of "Major for the Main." He is portrayed for
us as "of a large stature (seven feet and two inches in
height), and well-proportioned" with a "most grave
and commanding countenance." In 1722 he had just
returned from a journey to England, whither he was
sent by the Rhode-Islanders to state the case for the
colony in the matter of a disputed land claim with
Connecticut. The boundaries of Rhode Island col-
ony were in a state of chronic readjustment until a
much later period than this.

Jenckes's eloquence and power of argument were
matters of more than local celebrity. He was fore-
most among the members of the Baptist church, and
Bernon especially mentions him as an illustrative
instance of "many worthy gentlemen that make their
application to read the Holy scriptures and are very

1 8 2 'Providence in Colonial Times

well able to give an account of their faith." These
talents found full scope for action a few years later,
when the innovating doctrines set forth by a new-
comer among the Baptist brethren in Providence
caused prolonged search for scriptural warrant, and
eloquent exposition founded on the results thereof,
for and against such weighty matters as "the laying
on of hands," the use of music in church service, and
the payment of a salary to the officiating elder, or min-
ister, of the congregation. Joseph Jenckes's letters
may still be read, and they are well worth the perusal
for the sake of the pen-and-ink portrait they present
of the clear-headed, tolerant, and generous writer.

During the greater part of his long and active life
Jenckes was employed in the colony's political serv-
ice. In 1 69 1, he was chosen deputy, and in 1708,
assistant. At various times from 17 15 to 1727 he held
the office of deputy governor, and that of governor
from 1727 to 1732. We are told that he was "solic-
ited to serve the colony longer as their Governor, but
with heartfelt appreciation he told them that he felt
his natural faculties abating, and that if he should
hold office a few years longer he might not be sensible
of their decay, and perhaps should not be willing to
resign."

Governor Jenckes was the first governor of the
colony who was not an inhabitant of Newport. It
well illustrates the comparative importance of New-
port and Providence that in the first session after his

A Group of Newcomers 1 8 3

election the Assembly resolved, that it was "highly
necessary for the Governor of this colony to live at
Newport"; and in view of the fact that the removal
thither from Pawtucket would be " very chargeable,"
an appropriation of one hundred pounds from the
colony treasury was set apart "to defray the charges
of removing his family to Newport." He lived to the
ripe age of eighty-four years. On his tomb in the
North Burial Ground he is described as "a zealous
Christian, a Wise and Prudent Governor, a Kind
Husband and a Tender Father, a good Neighbor,
and a Faithful Friend, Grave, Sober, Pleasant in
Behavior, Beautiful in Person, with a soul truly
Great, Heroic and Sweetly Tempered."

The estimable "Mr. Jinks" was, however, but one
in the list of "learned men" whom Gabriel Bernon
enumerates in his letter, in order duly to impress
on the mind of his correspondent the necessity for
sending to the parish at Providence a " learned . . .
minister of good erudition," by preference "an Old
England gentleman minister." His list includes,
among others, Jonathan Sprague, a man of some
prominence in the political life of the colony, but
better known as a Baptist preacher, or exhorter. In
that capacity he addressed an extremely forcible
epistle to three Congregational divines of the Massa-
chusetts colony, who, in 1721, presumed to suggest to
Sprague and others the advisability of establishing a
Congregational church in Providence.

184 Providence in Colonial Times

Another name is that of Samuel Winsor, the grand-
son of Roger WilHams, whose career as pastor of
the Baptist church has been already noted. "Mr.
Outram, mathematician," has been identified by Mr.
Henry R. Chace with William Antrim, whose name,
writes Mr. Chace, "was spelled by the people of
Providence, in both the first and second syllables, in
all the ways possible by use of the various vowels."
He and his wife Sarah (she that was a Fenner) were
long involved in a contest with Mrs. Antrim's bro-
thers over the settlement of her father's estate . From
this wordy war the Antrims finally emerged with a
sufficient supply of ready money to enable them to
buy a warehouse lot on the corner of what is now
North Main and Smith Streets, and here Antrim
built a distillery, carried on a thriving business, laid
up money, invested in real estate, and prospered,
until his death, in 1 754. Antrim was a near neighbor
of Gabriel Bernon, and a congenial member of that
interesting group of newcomers who enliven the an-
nals of Providence in the early eighteenth century.

To the north of Bernon and Antrim lived Jonathan
Sprague and Captain John Crawford. Across the
way was "Nathaniel Brown of Kittle Point," who
appears to have made Providence his home at a
somewhat later date than his neighbors just men-
tioned. In 1 7 13, he bought the home lot which had
originally belonged to Richard Scott. He was living
at Rehoboth in 1725, when, although a warden of

Letter from Rev. James McSparran to Gabriel
Bernon, July 2, 1721

From original document in Bernon Papers, in the Rhode
Island Historical Society.

I ^,

'*■: #"

)

f^J^^'^^

•V

:?4^

^^A.

A Group of Newcomers 185

King's Church, he was imprisoned at Bristol (then in
Massachusetts) "for refusing to pay towards the
Support of the Dissenting teacher in that Town,"
since his conscience forbade him "to contribute to-
wards the Supporting Schism," At some time be-
tween the date of that untoward event and the time
of his marriage with Mary, the widow of Gabriel
Bernon, in 1737, we may take for granted that he
became a resident of Providence. His daughter mar-
ried Doctor Henry Sweeting, already referred to as
of the elect who were ministered to by the excellent
and reverend John Checkley.

When Nathaniel Brown died, in 1738, he divided
his large landed estate. His grandson, Job Sweet-
ing, received land on the west side of the Great Salt
River. To his son Nathaniel — who was, by the
way, a far from promising branch of the parent
tree — were given the two lots on the Towne Street.
The greater part of the property lay without the
bounds of the Rhode Island of that day, across the
Seekonk, where now the unsightly town of East Pro-
vidence perpetuates the old shipbuilder's Watch-
emoket Farm in its wind-swept Watchemoket Square.
These goodly acres of farming-land were bequeathed
to his son John.

Nathaniel Brown's neighbor and fellow-church-
man, Gabriel Bernon, lived to the advanced age of
ninety-two years. He was buried beneath King's
Church, and on the walls of the present building —

1 8 6 "Providence in Colonial Times

St. John's — a bronze tablet records his many vir-
tues. An obituary notice, published in a Boston
paper of that period, speaks of him as follows: "He
was courteous, honest and kind, and died in great
faith and hope in his Redeemer, and assurance of
salvation; and has left a good name among his
acquaintances. ... He was decently buried under
the Episcopal church at Providence, and a great
concourse of people attended his funeral, to whom
the Rev. Mr. Brown preached an agreeable and
eloquent sermon from Psalms xxxix, 4." The man
himself is elsewhere described as of "commanding
appearance and courtly bearing. Tall, slender, and
erect, he joined the vivacity of his race with the
thoughtfulness that marked the men of his creed.
Genuine kindliness consisted with a quick temper,
which betrayed itself in a certain imperiousness of
manner."

His house, on theTowne Street of Providence, was
built on the model of those of his boyhood's home,
with a bold projecting front. It was of wood, two
stories on the street, and three in the rear. The two
daughters of his marriage with Mary Harris, of
Providence, married, in their turn, Joseph and Gid-
eon Crawford, the sons of Major William. These
two brothers were leading citizens and prominent
merchants of the Providence of their generation,
where they lived, honored and respected, until the
closing years of the eighteenth century.

A Group of Newcomers 1 8 7

When Gabriel Bernon died, in 1736, he left a per-
sonal estate valued at ;^896. He owned four negro
slaves, who were appraised at ;^500. Among his
more important effects were forty-four ounces of
plate, and two pairs of large gold buttons, a tea-table,
six large maps, a silver-hiked sword, and a silver-
handled cane.

Chapter VI

PROGRESS, ECCLESIASTICAL AND SECULAR

THE unsatisfactory social and religious con-
ditions of the Providence of the early eight-
eenth century led Gabriel Bernon, Na-
thaniel Brown, Colonel Joseph Whipple, and others,
to bestir themselves to bring about a change for the
better. We have watched as their efforts led to the
establishment of King's Church.

At practically the same time certain other good
people, living in Massachusetts and Connecticut,
were displaying a creditable zeal in the endeavor to
raise an Ebenezer for the comfort of the elect.

It was in 1721 that the first efforts to establish the
"Congregational or Presbyterian way" of worship
were set on foot in the town of Providence. In the
October of that year three prominent ministers of the
Massachusetts colony endeavored to feel the pulse of
public opinion by addressing to Captain Nicholas
Power and others a letter on the subject. These
worthy representatives of "the standing order"
asked to be informed "whether the preaching of our
ministers in Providence might not be acceptable ; and
whether some who do not greatly incline to frequent
any pious meeting in the place, might not be drawn
to . . . hear our ministers, and so might be won

Tr ogress 189

over . . . into serious godliness." The inducement
thus tactfully set forth was followed by a suggestion
that " if . . .a small meeting house should be built
in your town to entertain such as are willing to hear
our ministers, we should account it a great favor, if
you all . . . or any of you, would please to build
pews therein."

The proposition proved to be far from acceptable
to the men for whose perusal it was written. One of
their number — namely. Elder Jonathan Sprague,
whose claims to intellectual leadership have been
already touched on — indited a reply intended to
repress this budding fervor of the missionary spirit,
while at the same time he set forth in uncompro-
mising language the Baptist point of view. Nor did
the eloquent exhorter fail to dwell on the wrongs and
sufferings, past and present, of those "dear friends
and pious dissenters," in Attleborough, Mendon, and
other towns, whose persons had been cast into prison
and their estates seized to maintain "the standing
order." "For the future," says Sprague grimly,
"never let us hear of your pillaging conscientious
dissenters to maintain your own ministers."

This exhortation was penned in February, 1722.
In the following June, Gabriel Bernon, writing to the
Reverend James Honeyman, urges the Episcopalians
to prompt action, for he says, the "Ministers and
Presbytery of the government of Boston and Con-
necticut" are "very busy to promote and advance

190 ^Providence in Colonial Times

their cause'* in Providence. The active agent in pro-
moting this same cause was Doctor John Hoyle,
described in contemporary documents as a " Practi-
tioner in Physick." He appears to have been an inn-
keeper as well, while his transactions in real estate
were by no means inconsiderable. Some five or six
years before this time he had applied to the Town
Council of Providence for license to keep an inn, but
for some unknown reason his request was refused.
Religious bias was not often a factor in Providence
politics, and we can hardly suppose that Hoyle's
dissent from the cardinal points of the Baptist doc-
trine would determine the matter at issue.

At all events, he was well known and trusted by
his friends in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and by
his exertions among these liberal-minded people £^\
was collected " in the way of charity and bounty for
the erecting of a meeting-house and the purchase of
a piece of land . . . said meeting house ... to be
appointed to the use of the Godley preachers and
ministers and assemblies that shall peaceably and
orderly worship in the Congregational or Presby-
terian way."

Having obtained the money, Hoyle bought a lot
on the West Side of the Great Salt River, at about
the junction of the present Broad and Weybosset
Streets. The West Side of that day was in very
nearly the same condition as when Roger Williams
named the town of Providence. A road ran from the

Tr ogress 191

Wading Place through what is now Exchange Street,
past the Turk's Head and along the line of Weybos-
set Street. This was the Old Country Road. It
diverged where Broad Street now begins, and led to
Pawtuxet on the left, and to Plainfield on the right.
Northwest of the Country Road lay Waterman's
Salt Marsh, extending from Turk's Head to the
present Eddy Street. It was perhaps two hundred
feet wide at the eastern end, and spread out to some
four hundred feet at the western extremity. Beyond
the marsh lay the Mathewson Farm, where was prob-
ably the only dwelling-house in that part of the city
when Hoyle, in 1722, bought one acre of land of
Zachariah Mathewson, at the corner where the
Pawtuxet and Plainfield roads diverged.

The selection of such a situation, on the edge of the
wilderness, for the new meeting-house can be ex-
plained by the fact that by far the greater part of
the prospective parishioners were absentees, living
in Rehoboth and Johnston, or well out on the road
to Pawtuxet.

A building was begun, but long ere it approached
completion, the purchasers decided to abandon the
lot of their first choice in favor of a more thickly
settled neighborhood, and the structure was accord-
ingly pulled down. We are told that Doctor Hoyle
felt the removal very bitterly. Finally a compromise
was reached, and the Doctor made over to the infant
society in return for the twenty-four pounds which he

1 9 2 "Providence in Colonial Times

had collected, that acre of land on which he had be-
gun the unfinished meeting-house. The unfortunate
Hoyle has been depicted for posterity as one who
unloaded his own bad bargain on the little church
whose cause he had been ostensibly laboring to pro-
mote. It is possible that scant justice has been done
him. His acre of land, at the junction of two high-
ways, may well have seemed worth the price. When
the Society finally obtained from Daniel Abbott a
rear lot on the side hill above the Towne Street it cost
them thirty pounds. Daniel Abbott was the son of
our old acquaintance of that name who played so
prominent a part as town-clerk in the years imme-
diately following King Philip's War, and was also
owner of the distil-house by the Parade, just in front
of the Great Bridge.

In 1723, Daniel Abbott and his wife Mary deeded
to the Congregational ministers of Medfield, Bristol,
and Rehoboth, and to the eldest deacon in each of
those churches, as trustees, a portion of the Chad
Brown home lot on the Towne Street, beginning
"twelve poles eastward from the said Street ... for
the erecting and building a meeting house."

This lot was part of that whereon now stands the
Providence County Court-House, at the corner of
Benefit and College Streets. The purchase money,
thirty pounds, was supplied by the "Reverend Na-
thaniel Cotton of Massachusetts Bay of his own free
bounty for the setting up the worship of God in the

First Congregational Meeting-house

Corner Benefit and College Streets, built 1723, used as
the Town House and as a police court after 1795, and de-
molished i860. From a water-color sketch by Edward L.
Peckham, made in i860, in the Rhode Island Historical
Society.

V ly t y t .

nsuoii-OKiTaaM jawoitaoj^okoD rasivl

an baay ^?_s.Xl Jliud ^eJaaiJfi agaJJoD bae JdanaSt-isfl^iQ^^ij,'
-f>b bns ,£9^1 i^rtfi litroo aqiloq fi 3B b«fi 32uoH"nwoT adt

Liiose
B

now stands the

V AG corner of

V streets. The purchase mc

h. was s by tlie "Reverend Na-

iusetts Bay of '
r-Auij x'n ui'- .-..t-ii^ 4«^ the worship oi v_!.v^«.i m mv.

Tr ogress 193

Presbyterian or Congregational way in the town of
Providence." The next step in order was "the erect-
ing and building a meeting house." Progress was
slow. In April of the next year (1724), the watchful
Bernon reported that the "busy and urgent Pres-
byterian ministers get but little ground." In 1725
occurred another illustration of the missionary spirit
abroad in Massachusetts, which was stimulating the
good people of Providence in a most practical way
by providing the necessary motive power to turn the
wheels of their new religious organization. Another
representative of the Cotton family came forward —
the Reverend Thomas, of London — who gave ";^50.
towards the settlement of religion in the town of
Providence, Rhode Island. £-^o. towards finishing
the meeting house . . . and ;^20. towards the sup-
port of preaching there for the next four years to
come." Thus encouraged, the little band of wor-
shippers prevailed on Samuel Moody, *'a worthy,
plain and powerful minister of Jesus Christ" to
watch over their spiritual welfare.

It was not until three years later, however, that
the first pastor was settled over the little flock. This
was Josiah Cotton, a brother of one of the trustees.
He was a graduate of Harvard, of the class of 1722,
and passed from the vocation of theological student
to that of pedagogue, as did most aspirants to the
ministry of that day and generation. Josiah Cotton
taught school at Rehoboth for a salary of £^^. per

194 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

annum. The Congregational church at Providence
was his first parish, and there his ordination was
impressively celebrated, on October 23, 1728. The
service was followed by "a very Sumptuous Dinner"
at the house of Captain Daniel Abbott. There were
enrolled nine male members of the church, besides
the young minister himself.

The Providence public was quick to recognize the
presence of this outpouring of the spirit. The thor-
oughfare now known as College Street first came into
existence in 1720, under the name of Rosemary
Lane. When, however, the atmosphere became
charged with theology, this dainty cognomen was
discarded in favor of the more distinctive Presby-
terian Lane, and a strait and narrow path to sal-
vation it must have proved, its recorded width being
but twenty feet.

During the next fifteen years the little group of
worshippers in the "Congregational or Presbyterian
way" enjoyed spiritual peace and prosperity. In
1742, however, their harmony of fellowship was
rudely broken. In that year the outburst of religious
excitement first set in motion at Northampton, and
stimulated by the preaching of Tennent and White-
field until it swept over New England, began to
awaken fervor and enthusiasm in towns where torpor
and indifference had long prevailed. The extrava-
gant demonstrations of the "New Lights" a few
years later have been already described for us by the

Tr ogress 195

Reverend John Checkley. Josiah Cotton's parish
was shaken to its foundations by this newly awak-
ened zeal. A large part, if not a majority, of the
members of his flock accused their devoted pastor of
unsound theology, of preaching a doctrine of "dam-
nable good works."

The poor man's cup was indeed full, as we learn
from his pious if somewhat narrow-minded brother-
minister, the Reverend Eleazer Wheelock, who
visited Providence in the fall of 1741, on his way
to Boston. His diary has preserved for us his im-
pressions and comments. On reaching Scituate he
visited "Capt. Angill" [an ancestor of President
James B. Angell, of the University of Michigan] and
preached there. He then paid a visit to one "Elder
Fish in hope to find him a Servant of Christ; but
found him a bigoted ignorant Baptist who seemed to
know nothing as he ought to know." After thus
unconsciously bearing testimony as to his own quali-
fications as a minister of the gospel of charity, the
good Wheelock set forth for Providence. Two miles
from town he was met by Ebenezer Knight, a thriv-
ing shopkeeper of the West Side, whose pretensions
to gentility cannot be doubted, since Mr. Wheelock
explicitly states that he "rode with Mr. Knight into
Town in his Calashe. Preached 3 Sermons," he
continues, and exclaims with reason, "O what a
burden dear Mr. Cotton has daily to bear." After
two days of preaching, conference, and exhortation,

196 Providence in Colonial Times

somewhat disturbed by the "many scoffers," the
visitor departed, accompanied so far as "Swansey"
by his friends "Mr. Cotton and Madam," and again
privileged to occupy a "calashe," — that of Mr.
Cotton.

In the spring of 1743, the discontented faction
formally withdrew from the church, and, in the
language of the record, "they set up a separate
meeting, where they attended to the exhortations of
a lay brother, who had been brought up in the busi-
ness of house-carpentry." This interesting personage
was Joseph Snow, Junior. His father, a blacksmith
by trade, had come to Providence in 1730, from
Easton, Massachusetts, and was holding the office of
deacon in Mr. Cotton's church at the time of the
secession. Deacon Snow, his son, and his son-in-law
were among the first settlers on the West Side of
the Great River. They broke ground near the place
where the Beneficent Church now stands, on Wey-
bosset Street.

The West Side was not an attractive neighborhood
in those early days. Little change had taken place in
the twenty years since Doctor Hoyle's abortive at-
tempt to establish a religious centre in this neighbor-
hood. Timothy Carpenter had built his house on the
northeast corner of the lot on which the old post-
office stands, and near by, on Weybosset Point,
Doctor Henry Sweeting had built and settled. Dea-
con Snow obtained some land in the neighborhood

Progress 197

where "Mr. Snow's Meeting House" was eventually
to stand, through the good offices of Captain John
Field, whose daughter he had married. A year or
two later he purchased a tract of land of about four
acres, extending from the house of Captain John
Field, on the corner of the present Clifford and
Chestnut Streets, to the house of Zachariah Mathew-
son at the corner of Eddy and Broad Streets, and
lying south of the Country Road. Here the enter-
prising deacon built a house for himself and one for
his son, a carpenter by trade. These they soon sold,
laid out a new batch of house lots, built and sold
again, and succeeded in creating a veritable real-
estate boom.

The deacon has been tersely and caustically char-
acterized as a " cantankerous person whose specialty
was in stirring up church rows." Once in Providence,
he appears to have found full scope for his peculiar
talents, and in due course his activity met its reward.
Eventually the Seceders formed themselves into a
new church, with Joseph Snow, Junior, as pastor.
The first requisite was a meeting-house. With a
wisdom in no way savoring of fanaticism the newly
appointed minister induced his congregation to build
their meeting-house on the West Side of the river,
close to the recently settled neighborhood of which
his own and his father's homes formed the nucleus.
A lot of land was given for this purpose by Daniel
Abbott, and the necessary material was garnered

198 ^Providence in Colonial Times

under the directing eye of the pastor himself, who
"led some of his principal members into the woods
and there cut down and hewed timber for that pur-
pose." The open space on the east of the new build-
ing was long and appropriately known as Abbott's
Parade, while the edifice itself was variously desig-
nated as "the Tennent Meeting House," the "New
Light meeting house," and finally, as the individu-
ality of its minister predominated all merely extra-
neous influences, as "Mr. Snow's Meeting-House."
Its successor of to-day is styled the Beneficent
Church, from the title of the Society, adopted in
1785, or is familiarly spoken of as the "Round-Top
Church," because of its dome.

It was not until 1750 that the building was ready
for service. The original meeting-house measured
forty feet by thirty-six. It was several times enlarged,
and in the early seventies was in constant demand
for public gatherings, as having the largest audience-
room in the town.

Mr. Snow carried into the ministry the activity
which had distinguished him in secular pursuits. He
was not a well-educated man, but he had the gift
of eloquence, a command of Bible phraseology, and
a voice of great volume. It was a popular saying
that the Sabbath-breaking ne'er-do-weels, fishing off
Weybosset Bridge, could easily hear and profit by
Mr. Snow's exhortations to lead a better life, as he
preached his Sunday sermon.

Tr ogress 199

Notwithstanding Mr. Snow's untiring efforts for
the regeneration of his fellow-townsmen, he by no
means lost his interest in temporal concerns. He
improved and built up the West Side of the town
with an ardor akin to that wherewith he toiled in his
Master's vineyard. In 1749, he and two other long-
headed business men purchased of the widow Ma-
thewson a considerable tract of land lying west of
the present Mathewson Street, and north of Broad.
The next move was to open a highway through this
land, from what is now Cathedral Square to Water-
man's Marsh, and then through the marsh to Turk's
Head, where it met the Plainfield Road. These
enterprising dealers in real estate laid out lots and
built houses along their new road. These were taken
up by newcomers, and before many years had gone
by a thriving little settlement of tradesmen and art-
isans was to be found, and a notable addition was
made, in due course of time, to the numbers of Mr.
Snow's congregation.

While the new church thus prospered under the
combined effects of the religious and secular enthusi-
asm of its members, the parent society drooped and
pined. Its pastor was evidently not the man to in-
fuse new vigor into the lives and works of the sav-
ing remnant of his congregation which was left him.
After a few years of conscientious service he re-
signed his charge. It was not until 1751 that the load
which he had laid down was finally adjusted to an-

2 00 Trovidence in Colonial Times

other pair of shoulders. In that year the Reverend
John Bass, who had been cast without the pale of
Connecticut Congregationalism, became the leader
of this struggling little flock. Bass was a graduate of
Harvard. At the age of twenty-five he had been
settled as minister over the church at Ashford, in
Windham County, Connecticut. While yet a candi-
date his orthodoxy fell under suspicion, but further
inquiry seemed to prove his principles to be sound.
Later, his sermons were criticised as being insuffi-
ciently Calvinistic. His church went so far as to ask
that the matter be referred to a conference. To this
Bass refused his consent, saying that "as the people
generally were in a ruffle, 't was best to defer calling
them together until they were cooler, . . . and so
fitter for action."

This answer did not tend to bring about the desired
consummation. The conference was summoned, and
Bass was accused of "falling away from the saving
doctrine of original sin, wherefore neither his preach-
ing nor his principles were good." On being asked,
"Don't you think that a child brings Sin enough into
the world with it to damn it forever?" Bass replied,
*^He did not." The matter was settled then and there,
for the doctrine of original sin was promptly pro-
nounced "an essential condition of church fellowship
and communion," and further discussion and eluci-
dation failed to shake the convictions of either party.
Bass removed to Providence, — the inevitable refuge

Tr ogress 201

of the theologically unsound, — and there supplied
the pulpit and such other spiritual offices as lay
within the power of one who had not been ordained,
"till about the year 1758, when by reason of an ill
state of health, and the small encouragement he met
with, as to support and numbers of hearers, he gave
up the business, and entered upon the practice of
Physic." The encouragement was small, indeed, for
we read that his congregations did not often exceed
twenty, and that the church was "so scattered and
divided, that it was scarcely known whether there
were any of them left."

The "practice of Physic" was not the only field of
enterprise which engaged Mr. Bass's attention. It is
evident at a glance that such financial support as he
could receive from the faithful few to whom he min-
istered must have been sadly insufficient to furnish
the comforts of life. It was a necessity for the new
minister to obtain a supplementary revenue from
some source, if he would not starve. When, therefore,
in 1752, shortly after his arrival in Providence, the
opportunity offered to go into partnership with
Deacon Snow of the dissenting party, and Samuel
Nightingale, a pillar of the Presbyterian Society, for
the purpose of carrying on the new distillery, built by
Nightingale, Mr. Bass was not slow to invest his
funds in this profitable enterprise. The establish-
ment was known as the "Concord Distil-House " and
stood on what is now Page Street, about one hundred

2 o 2 "Providence in Colonial Times

feet south of the Country Road. Both Mr. Bass and
his partners were sufficiently broad-minded to be
able to overlook differences of theological opinion on
the six working-days of the week, and to content
themselves with combating error, from the vantage-
ground of pulpit and prayer-meeting, on the seventh.
Although far from seeing eye to eye on points of
doctrine, we may assume a practical harmony re-
garding their spirituous concerns.

At about the time the Concord Distil-House was
built, a wide ditch was constructed, leading from
Muddy Dock — where Dorrance Street is now — to
the distil-house. By means of this improvement
wood and barrels were transported on scows to and
from the distillery and the Towne Street.

Even before John Bass gave up the cure of souls
for the more immediately profitable cure of bodies,
he seems to have resided on the West Side of the
river. He occupied a house on the Plainfield Road, a
little east of Mr. Snow's Meeting-House, and com-
paratively near the scene of his own financial inter-
ests. At a later date this house was the home of
Doctor Samuel Carew, who not only dispensed pills
and practised physic at his sign of the pestle and
mortar, but kept a tavern known as "The Travel-
lers," and ran a livery-stable as well.

We have no definite information respecting Mr.
Bass's record as a doctor of medicine. His obituary
notice, in the Gazette of 1762, speaks of "his public

Tr ogress 203

Performances " as " evangelical, learned, rational and
accurate," while in private life he was said to be
"sociable, beneficent, compassionate, instructive,
and exemplary," — a list of Christian virtues to be
envied in any age.

Side by side with the development of these new
religious societies whose beginnings have been traced,
there is to be observed an expansion in the field of
action of the pioneers in the spiritual life of Rhode
Island, namely, the Baptists and the Quakers. The
colony of Rhode Island had since the days of George
Fox been a veritable stronghold of the Society of
Friends, and here as elsewhere their habitual thrift
and industry soon enabled them to become power-
ful factors in the political and industrial life of the
community where they had first appeared as refugees.

The religious enthusiasm of the early years of the
eighteenth century, and the zeal for missionary effort
that followed it, seem to have aroused the placid
Friends to fresh exertions. They, too, proceeded to
build a meeting-house without further loss of time.
Daniel Abbott, who appears to have been particu-
larly active in furthering the erection of ecclesiastical
edifices, offered a frame for the building. This was
inspected and approved, and the quarterly meeting
of June, 1725, having come to the conclusion "that
it is most likely for the advancement of truth, to build
a meeting-house in the town of Providence," agreed
to raise one hundred pounds for that purpose. Mat-

2 04 Providence in Colonial Times

ters progressed smoothly after this, and before 1727
the Friends* Meeting-House occupied its present
position on Meeting Street, then known as Gaol
Lane. Its erection helped to rouse the still small
voice of conscience throughout the neighborhood
to fresh exertions. The Society gained steadily in
numbers and influence. In 1753, Doctor MacSpar-
ran, writing of the conditions prevailing in the col-
ony, speaks of the Quakers as, " for the most part,
the people in power," and the uncompromising
divine unequivocally classes these sectaries among
the "Briars, and Thorns, and noxious weeds" that
were "all to be eradicated," before the pure doctrine
of the Church of England could be successfully im-
planted in the unpromising field of labor presented
to him for cultivation. Time was to prove, however,
that there was room and to spare for all at seedtime,
and that all should share the harvest.

Among the Baptists also the desire "to fight the
good fight" found concrete expression in the form of
a new meeting-house. Since the days of good old
Pardon Tillinghast, the "hay-cap-like" building on
the Towne Street had served the little band of wor-
shippers in "the Baptist way." Within its smoke-
grimed walls Elder Jonathan Sprague had edified
many a congregation by the rigor of his orthodoxy,
and the eloquence of Lieutenant-Governor Joseph
Jenckes had been effectively exerted to uphold the
cause of truth. The house was, however, neither

Tr ogress 205

sightly nor commodious, and we cannot wonder that
the swelling tide of improvement finally swept away
the old building.

The new meeting-house stood on the adjoining
lot on the Towne Street. It was begun on May 30,
1726, as is abundantly testified by the account-book
of Justice Richard Brown, wherein is noted the din-
ner provided " for the people that raised the Baptist
meeting-house in Providence (it being raised this
day)." These lusty coadjutors in the good work
were regaled with "One fat sheep which weighed 43
lbs. the quarter," and cost fourteen shillings and
fourpence. Eight shillings were paid to the cook who
was responsible for serving this formidable roast.
For side dishes there were "two loaves of bread,
which weighed 15 lbs.," half a peck of peas, and one
pound of butter. A meal to be commended for the
substantiality and sobriety of its viands!

The new meeting-house was about forty feet
square, so we are told by John Rowland, one of the
best-known and most respected of the townspeople
of the early nineteenth century. He says: "At high
water the tide flowed nearly up to the west end of the
building. There were no pews." Benches were
placed on either side of the centre aisle. "The elders
nearest the place usually preached. The elders were
generally farmers, and had no salary or any other
means of support but their own labor. They offi-
ciated in any place where there was a gathering, and

2o6 ^Providence in Colonial Times

the people did not know who was to speak until they
saw one begin. They did not approve of singing and
never practiced it in public worship. When more
than one elder was present, and the first had ex-
hausted himself, he would say, 'there is time and
space left if any one has further to offer.' In that
case another and another would offer what he had to
say ; so there was no set time for closing the meeting.
As elder Winsor's home was in Providence, he gen-
erally appeared in his place on Sunday [this was
some thirty-five years after the day of Elder Jona-
than Sprague], so that this came to be called elder
Winsor's meeting. The house could not contain a
large congregation, nor did the number present seem
to require a larger house, as they were not crowded,
though many of them came in from the neighboring
towns on horseback, with women behind them on
pillions."

A community of less than four thousand souls,
wherein were erected during a single decade four
meeting-houses, is surely entitled to be described as
enterprising. It is true that these centres of social and
religious life, both new and old, were not enthusiast-
ically supported by the population as a whole. Out-
side aid was continually forthcoming, down to the
time of the Revolution, and the clouds of darkness
on the horizon were ever threatening to overcome
the feeble beams of the candle on the altar.

In other fields of enterprise, however, the towns-

'^^S^mt

Map of Rhode Island

Surveyed by James Helme and William Chandler, 1741,
from the manuscript map in the Rhode Island Historical
Society. The portion reproduced shows Providence
County.

id not appr<

lip. V\

he had to

IfiohoiaiH Lnslal obod^ odJ ni qcfn Jqmaun/^rn arft moii
ODnobivoT'I syrodz baouhoiqor noiJioq oilT .•"(J^aboS

ed to be dt

siast-

Out-

»o the

s of darkness

overcome

■con the a I

ise, however, tiie :

Tr ogress 207

people prospered, and the town grew in numbers and
in wealth. From a recorded population of 1446, in
1708, the numbers had swelled to 3916, in 1730.
From this time to the Revolutionary period there
seems to have been little change. If some outsiders
came to the town, on the other hand a goodly pro-
portion of the townspeople went afield in search of
home and fortune elsewhere.

Progress during these years of transformation
showed itself in purely secular forms, as well as in
efforts to further the spiritual welfare of those con-
cerned. By June, 1729, population had so increased
that "the more remote inhabitants'* from such cen-
tres of activity as existed were "put to great trouble
and difficulty, in prosecuting their affairs in the
common course of justice."

It was to mitigate this hardship that the colony
was "divided into three distinct and separate coun-
ties," namely, — Newport, King's, and Providence ;
in each of which was to be "forthwith erected . . .
one County House, and one County Goal . . . meet
and convenient for the holding of Courts & Security
of Prisoners." Furthermore, the charge was to be
"defrayed and Paid" by the colonial treasury. The
civic pride of the good people of Providence was
stimulated to immediate action. A town-meeting
was convened without delay for the purpose of con-
sidering "Wheither there should be any money al-
lowed out of our Town Treasury to Add If need be

2o8 "Providence in Colonial Times

to what will be Allowed out of the General Treasury
for the building of the County Court house, so that
the said house might be made so large as to be serv-
iceable for the Townes Publick use." The demands
made by the servants of the public were not exor-
bitant. Their needs were satisfied with a building
" fourty foot Long and thirty foot wide and Eighteene
foot stud betwixt Joynts," with "a Chimny or two
. . . from the Chamber flower and upwards.'' This
spacious public edifice was to be forthcoming,
"Provided it be sett in the Place agreed on." The
stipulated agreement was not reached, however,
until after three months of argument and discussion,
when it was "determined by voate" that the new
court-house "should be sett ... at Mr. William
Page's," on the present Meeting Street a little west
of Benefit.

In spite of the efforts of the party of opposition, —
who foresaw disastrous results from the fact that
the William Page land was entailed "unto William
Olney," and duly set forth their objections in a peti-
tion bearing some ninety-odd signatures, — the
majority had their way, and the house was " set up."
More than twenty years later, Olney was given
" Liberty to Dock said Entail," in order that a clear
deed of title might be obtained.

It was expected that the new building would be
available for business purposes by the spring of 173 1,
and the April town-meeting was summoned to meet

Progress 209

there. But the inherent inability of carpenters and
contractors to finish a job on time had evidently not
been reckoned with, for we read that "for Reason of
it being Cluttered with the workmen being In the
finishing of it ; the Town haveing Liberty, meet in the
Quakers meeting house . . . Close by." It was not
until the following January that the town-meeting
was enabled to enjoy the new accommodations on
Gaol Lane, so called in recognition of the presence
of the gaol, which stood conveniently at hand for the
ministrations of judge and jury.

Courts and town-meetings by no means exhausted
the resources of the new edifice. It had long ceased
to be a novelty, however, when the day came on
which it was suggested by Stephen Hopkins that the
new Providence Library might well be accommo-
dated with house-room within the precincts dedicated
to law and order.

When, in 1742, Stephen Hopkins left his boyhood's
home in the frontier town of Scituate, and removed
himself and his family to Providence, he was already
a man of note in the business circles of his new home.
He had interests in the commerce both of Newport
and of Providence, and was remarked by all who
knew him as a young man of ability and probity, —
one who was born to be a leader of men. His well-
known house stood at the foot of the thoroughfare
known to us as Hopkins Street. When his unpreten-
tious home was built, there was, so far as we now

2 1 o T^rovidence in Colonial Times

know, no more formal highway leading up the hill
than a well-worn footpath. Ten years later a "new
way" was ordered to be laid out, but we do not hear
of it being honorably christened before 1791, when
it became Bank Lane, in honor of the new bank
situated thereupon. Since 1805 it has been Hopkins
Street. The old house of Governor Hopkins — re-
moved to the rear of its first site, on the Towne
Street — still bears witness to the modest and unpre-
tending scale of official etiquette which obtained in
the days "when we lived under the king."

With the long tale of Stephen Hopkins's public
life as deputy, chief justice, governor, and statesman,
we have comparatively small concern. It is as a
townsman in Providence that he commands our in-
terest and admiration, and not the least interesting
of his many schemes for the public welfare is his zeal
in the establishment of a public subscription library.
Probably no settlement in New England of equal
size was so destitute of books as was Providence.
She had but lately made her first feeble attempt to
provide a schoolhouse for her children. No book-
seller was found sufficiently sanguine to open a shop
for his wares until ten years later than the period of
which we are speaking. It was in February, 1754,
that a group of five substantial citizens, headed by
Stephen Hopkins, represented to the Colonial As-
sembly that, prompted by a desire " to promote use-
ful Knowledge," they had "made a voluntary sub-

'Vl'>'^<'.

Stephen Hopkins House

Built about 1742, moved up Hopkins Lane from its
former location on the Main Street in 1804. From a
photograph by Willis A. Dean, 191 1.

HSU'

jcU-i.jIiuii.

k A-W V A^iXx^

Uiliai}

"Progress

211

scription, and thereby . . . raised and sent to Eng-
land a sum of money sufficient to purchase books to
furnish a small library/' This effort had, however,
exhausted their resources, and in the hope of securing
"a proper place to keep the books in when they ar-
rive," the Assembly was petitioned for leave to put
them in the council chambers in the Court-House.
It was further represented that this arrangement,
"so far from being any inconvenience, . . . would
be a real ornament to the house, and afford an agree-
able amusement to the members in their leisure
hours."

Unless the novelty of handling new and standard
works may justly be denominated a diversion, it is
difficult to realize that the average assemblyman
could be expected to amuse himself with Milton,
Locke, Pufendorf, and other works of a similarly
light and frivolous nature which adorned the shelves.
Instruction was, however, sufficiently tempered with
recreation to admit the presence of Plutarch, Tacitus,
Prince's New England Chronology, and Franklin's
work on electricity, and it is possible that these ap-
peared more amusing to our forefathers than they
would to us of the present day, who are brought up
on that prepared breakfast-food of literature, — the
magazine.

Five years later, the Colony House was burned,
and with it that portion of the library which was not
at the moment in the hands of the subscribers. It

2 12 Providence in Colonial Times

had already proved a popular and valuable insti-
tution. The Colonial Assembly, on being duly in-
formed of its destruction, pronounced it "a very
valuable collection of books," and enacted that of
the two thousand milled dollars to be raised by a
lottery for rebuilding the Court-House and purchas-
ing a library, one half should be devoted to the latter
end. The only condition imposed was that the mem-
bers of the General Assembly should have free ac-
cess to the shelves, whereby we may fairly assume
either that the contents proved to be a restful alter-
native to the labors of legislation, or that then, as
now, the average citizen valued the privilege of
getting something for nothing — even when he did
not want it. At a later session it was formally re-
solved that the reestablishment of the library was a
work "of a public nature, tending to promote virtue
and the good of mankind," and on these grounds
permission was given the "proprietors of the late
library" "to put forth a lottery sufficient to raise
twelve hundred milled dollars, for reestablishing said
library."

The new home in which the reestablished library
was duly installed, was of an entirely different and
much more pretentious type than the old Colony
House, whose dimensions arouse astonishment rather
than admiration. The new Colony House — now
known as the old State House — bears witness to the
growth of prosperity and civic pride in the course of

Old State House

North Main Street, built 1760. From a photograph
taken in 191 1.

^-'^,^^#^^''

Z?^"

■V. c-

Progress 213

a generation. It was placed, in accordance with the
directions of the Colonial Assembly, *'upon the very
Commodious and suitable Lot to the Northward of
that whereon the meeting House of the People called
Quakers stands." It is a well-proportioned building
of the colonial type, built of red brick with brown
stone trimmings. Later additions have done much to
spoil its symmetry of outline. Nevertheless, it is not
without a certain oldtime dignity, as it stands facing
the Towne Street, at the head of the long, gently-
sloping parade, shadowed with trees, and flanked by
the spacious mansion-houses of a bygone generation.
Its walls have witnessed many a public gathering,
some of great, and some of little, moment. Across
its threshold have passed the nation's heroes, and
the guests whom a grateful country has delighted to
honor.

It was several years before the burning of the Old
Colony House that the adjoining headquarters of the
town's criminal population, namely, the gaol, was
removed to a more conveniently accessible neighbor-
hood. The old situation at the corner of Benefit and
Meeting Streets had proved " very inconvenient both
as to Water and carting Wood," for it was necessary
to carry these requisites to comfort '* some Distance
up a Hill," and in order to mitigate the consequent
distress, "not only of the Gaol Keeper, but the poor
Prisoners," the colony declared itself prepared "to
build a good new Gaol House ... of a suitable

2 14 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

Bigness," on condition that the town of Providence
should provide "a good convenient Lot of Land"
for the purpose.

One member of the committee appointed to deal
with this problem was Stephen Hopkins, already
a leader of public opinion and public enterprise.
Stephen Hopkins came before the next town-meeting
to suggest a certain "convenient Lot" as "a proper
place" for the new gaol. With all due deference to
the abilities of this great statesman, it must be al-
lowed that his ideas of propriety would hardly be
acceptable to the present generation. His suggestion
was — and it was forthwith adopted by a unanimous
vote — that "the flats in the Salt River being the
west end of the Lott . . . whereon the Towne
Schoole house . . . standeth," be appropriated for
the new gaol. The schoolhouse, fronting on the
Towne Street, was to occupy eighty feet of the lot,
and the gaol was to have the remainder, extending
over the mud flats to the channel in midstream. A
year later the new gaol was ready for business and
proved to be of a sufficiently "suitable Bigness" to
satisfy the county's taxpayers, if not the prisoners,
until 1799, when it was replaced by a larger building
on the same site. The street to the south of the gaol
lot, leading to the salt water, was at once dubbed
Gaol Lane, while that which passed its former abid-
ing-place became Old Gaol Lane.

The lot whereon stood both schoolhouse and gaol.

Tr ogress 215

bearing witness to the town's solicitude for the mental
and moral welfare of its citizens, — young and old, —
had been set apart for educational purposes certainly
as early as 1747. It was across the street from the
parade of the old Colony House. We also find that
a school committee was annually instructed to take
charge of the schoolhouse, "and to appoint a school-
master to teach" therein. Nor are we without in-
formation as to the instruction furnished.

Among the documents in possession of the Rhode
Island Historical Society is the "Cipher Book of
John Brown, 1752," a silent witness to three years'
diligent devotion to arithmetic on the part of number
three of the four brothers Brown. One page bears
the legend: "John Brown his Cyphring Book 1749."
The course of study began with the definition,
"Addition Is an Arithmetical gathering of Divers
Sums together to Produce one Total." Examples of a
general nature follow the exposition of the four fun-
damentals — addition, subtraction, multiplication,
and division. We find, for example: "How many
Sparrows at 10 a Penny will buy a Yoke of Oxen at
;^io Price." And again, "Suppose it 45 miles to
Boston, How many Barley Corns will Reach there."
The solution is neatly worked out, and we sympa-
thize with the pride of the boy of fourteen, who wrote
in a round hand at the foot of the page, — "John
Brown the Cleverest boy in Providence Town."
Another heading reads: " The Golden Rule, or rule

2 1 6 ^Providence in Colonial Times

of 3. This is the Golden Rule for the Excellency
thereof." Then follow practical directions : "To work
any Question In the Rule of Three, you must
Observe the following Rule : —

"If the 4th the Second must Exceed then See
By the Great Extream It Multiplyed be
But if it must be Less than Second Aim
To Multiply it by the Less Extream."

John Brown was the son of one of the first among
Providence sea-captains to voyage to the West
Indies, whence many a cargo of molasses was
shipped for the shop on the Towne Street at home.
He must have "ciphered" with all the zest of experi-
ence on such problems as the following: "A Mer-
chant in Providence buys 48 Tun of Molasses at
Barbadoes for 672/. The freight from thence to
Providence Cost him 160/. for Loading and unload-
ing 72/. for Custom 12/. and Other Charges 7/. and
would Gain 250/. by the Bargain. What is the Price
of 16 Tun of Said Molasses."

John Brown and his school-fellows belonged to a
generation whose fathers earned a livelihood on the
sea and over the counter. Their demands for their
children's schooling were of a practical nature,
based on the needs of the coasting-trade and the
shop. John and his friends were taught accordingly.
They learned the "Rules inTrett and Tare &c. Tare
Is the weight of the Bagg Chest &c. Wherein the
Goods are Carried or put." " Trett Is an Allowance

Tr ogress 2 1 7

of 4 lb. in 104 lb. for Goods wherein is Loss as,
Treacle, Sugar, &c." They also learned the rules
for barter, by which, indeed, the greater part of the
town's business was conducted. They learned "Va-
riety," of which the following problem may serve
as an example: "ATobaconist would mix 20 lb.
of Tobaco at 9^. a lb. with 40 lb. at \^d. a lb. and
with 30 lb. at 18 Pence and with 12 lb. at 2 Shillings a
Pound, What will a Pound of this mixture be worth?"
The answer is," 2 i-. 2. 2 6-i7farth." There were sums
in square root, sums in finding a ship's latitude,
and finally, directions : " To measure a Ship, to find
her Tunnage" — "Rule first Say as i: Breadth::
Half the Breadth: a fourth Number, again as 94: the
fourth Number : : her length : Tunnage."

This record of eighteenth-century school-days
takes an added interest from the fact that the boy
who figured at latitude, ships' tonnage, and the pro-
fits of a West-Indian cargo was to fill the position of
the leading merchant of his native seaport, and to
become the pioneer in her East-India trade. John
Brown's instructor during those three eventful years
of ciphering is not known. In 1753, we find our old
friend, George Taylor, of King's Church Parish,
officiating as town schoolmaster, with the proviso
that he, "the s'd George doth . . . Oblige himself
to . . . teach one poor Child, such as the s'd Com-
mittee shall recommend, Gratis, or for nothing."

2 1 8 "Providence in Colonial Times

The inference is that instruction for the remaining
pupils was furnished on a different basis.

After the burning of the old Colony House, in
1758, and in response to an apparent and not alto-
gether surprising dissatisfaction with the environ-
ment provided by the town for the educational pur-
suits of its young people, it was decided to sell the
town schoolhouse and lot, and to use the money thus
obtained for the purchase of "a more Convenient
Lot, and Building a Publick School House . . . To
be keept up forever for the same publick Emolements
as the old . . . School was, or ought to have been."
The site of the old Colony House was selected and
approved. The plan attracted the attention of the
townspeople, the interest became general, and at
length public sentiment was sufficiently aroused to
undertake to "purchase or erect Three School
Houses for the Education of Small children and one
for the Education of Youth." But by the time that
the reports of the committees appointed to consider
sites, buildings, and regulations were brought in, the
wave of popular enthusiasm had subsided. The re-
ports were rejected, and only "the School House near
the Court House" finally appeared as the result of a
really enlightened scheme for public education.

The new schoolhouse is the brick two-storied
structure still standing on Meeting Street, and known
as the "Old Brick Schoolhouse." Among the provi-
sions for the education of youth embodied in the

Tr ogress 219

rejected report of the town's committee, we find the
following suggestions as to a desirable curriculum:
two hours in each day should be " taken up ... in
perfecting the scholars in reading and properly un-
derstanding the English tongue." The remaining
time at the disposal of the student might, it was
thought, be advantageously devoted to "writing,
arithmetic, the various branches of mathematics, and
the learned languages."

The Brick Schoolhouse was paid for in part by the
town, and in part by private subscription. The pro-
prietors owned the upper story of the building, and
the town the lower, and we are told that the town
appointed masters to keep school in their part of the
building, and that this arrangement was kept up
until 1785. Another schoolhouse was built, entirely
by private enterprise, in 1768. This was Whipple
Hall, at the North End of the town, so called in grate-
ful acknowledgment of the generosity of Captain
John Whipple, who donated the lot. This school-
house was one story in height, with a hipped roof
surmounted by a belfry. The subscribers — forty-
two in number — paid a tuition fee of four shillings
and sixpence. Outsiders were charged an additional
two shillings. Two schools were accommodated
within the walls of Whipple Hall, and of these the
upper grade was in charge of the estimable Geoge
Taylor.

On the West Side of the Great River a subscription

2 2 o "Providence in Colonial Times

for building a schoolhouse had been started in 1751,
when the town was petitioned for liberty to build "at
the sandy hill called Fowler's hill by Joseph Snow
Junrs dwelling house," and when it was ascertained
that there was "sufficient Roome and not damnific
the highway," the prayer of the petitioners was
readily granted. But alas! the cause of academic pro-
gress was doomed to disappointment. For the stated
width of the highway being fifty feet, there was left
at the disposal of the subscribers just sixteen feet for
the accommodation of the proposed schoolhouse.
The West-Siders wasted no more time haggling with
the town-meeting, but with characteristic energy and
dispatch bought a lot and built a schoolhouse at the
corner of Mathewson and Chapel Streets. The build-
ing was finished in 1754, in good time to serve as a
model for the East Side Whipple Hall.

One result of the destruction of the Old Colony
House was the conviction thus brought home to the
townspeople that they were without adequate pro-
tection against fire. In 1754 "the inhabitants of the
compact part of the town" had taken it on them-
selves to inform the Colonial Assembly that there
was "a great Necessity to have a Water-Engine of a
Large Size purchased, to extinguish Fires that may
casually break out in said Town ; and that the best
way to Obtain one will be by laying a Tax on the
Houses, Goods, & other things to be destroyed by
Fire."

"Progress

221

The Assembly readily accorded the petitioners
permission to tax themselves for the protection of
their own property and — strange to relate ! — a tax
was actually levied, and an engine procured from
London. It proved in some respects a disappoint-
ment to the purchasers, who found "the workman-
ship . . . not Agreeable to [the makers'] Discrip-
tion." At the normal rate of progress in undertakings
of a public nature this engine can hardly have been
delivered in Providence under two years, — that is
to say, in 1756. In 1758, the town was called on to
pay six pounds and ten shillings to one Mr. Amos
Atwell, "it being for mending the Engine," and no
doubt this amount seemed to the frugal-minded tax-
payer an excessive sum to be set down to "wear and
tear."

The loss of the Colony House in December, 1758,
emphasized afresh the shortcomings of the fire de-
partment, both in equipment and in organization.
Before a month had gone by, the rate for a new
engine was assessed. Two hundred and twenty-two
substantial townsmen contributed. The total amount
obtained was £2"]^)^^ in colonial currency. Elisha
Brown figures as the largest taxpayer. He paid £60.
The smallest assessment was £2. It was not, how-
ever, until a year later that matters were sufficiently
advanced to enable the committee in charge —
namely, Obadiah Brown and James Angell — to
send an order for the new engine to Joseph Sher-

2 2 2 'Providence in Colonial Times

wood, the colony's agent in London. A bill of ex-
change for eighty pounds sterling accompanied a
description of the engine desired. This was to be a
" Fifth Size Engine . . . made in the best manner,
Lin'd & Compleated for the Working of Salt Waters
as the Scituation of this town Requires." It was to
have "Three Length of Leathern pipe 40 feet each
with Brass Screws & One sucking pipe of Ten feet
Compleat." The agent was begged to take particular
care that all specifications were duly fulfilled, and the
matter was carefully explained to be " a Government
Concern," since the committee, although acting for
the town of Providence, were appointed by the Gen-
eral Assembly.

To this request Friend Joseph replied in due course
that the engine was purchased and would soon be
shipped, and expressed his great pleasure at " Every
Opportunity of Oblidging any part of the Colony or
any Particular Gentleman in it." This efi^usion was
penned in June, 1760, and in December the engine
was reported safe at Boston. A town-meeting was
promptly summoned for the purpose of raising
money to pay the freight from Boston to Providence,
and " to devise some proper place for Keeping of said
Engine wheen Come to hand." The first point at
issue was covered by the assessment of a "rate," and
shortly after, five boxes of "Spermacete Candles"
were despatched to Boston, "to replace the money
advanced for freight — with Interest." It was fur-

Tr ogress 223

ther resolved that "the Largest Engine" should be
kept at the "House at the Bridge opposit Judge
Jenckes," and "the other ... on the Gangway to
the South of the Baptis Meeting House," namely,
Smith Street.

The mechanism of this new importation is believed
to have been a combination of sea-pumps, attached
to a large tub-like tank, and worked by long arms, or
handles. The tank was filled by "good leathern
buckets," of which each housekeeper was required by
law to possess two. Men and boys formed lines from
the engine to the source of supply, and the brimming
buckets were passed up to the tank by one line, and
came back empty by the other. Good order and
systematic treatment of the case in hand were insured
by the presence of fire-wards or wardens, appointed
from different parts of the town, and each having "a
Proper Badge assigned him . . . to Wit, A Speaking
Trumpet coloured red." These officers were author-
ized by the Colonial Legislature "to require and
command Assistance for Suppressing and extin-
guishing the Fire." The same august authority re-
quired of each fire-warden that, "upon Notice of the
breaking forth of Fire," he should "take his Badge,
and repair immediately to the Place, and vigorously
exert his Authority."

The limits of " the compact part of the Town of
Providence," within which the above rules and regu-
lations applied, were duly set forth as follows: "The

2 24 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

House of Jabez Whipple, and that of Peter Randal,
standing opposite to it [these worthies lived just
south of the present North Burial Ground] and from
thence Southward, all the Buildings that are or shall
be erected, butting on or near adjacent to the Streets
both old and new [just at this time new streets were
being opened in several parts of the town], ... to-
gether with all the Mills and Houses in that part
of the Town which is called Charlestown [between
Smith and Orms Streets, and extending to the river]
as far Westward as the Town Pound [at the corner
of Smith and Charles Streets] ; and all such Part of the
said Town as is called the Point, as far Westward as
the Burying Ground." The " Point" was Weybosset
Point, and the drift of the town's population west-
ward within fifteen years had been such as to bring
the "compact part" thereof to the boundary of Doc-
tor John Hoyle's unfortunate purchase for the first
group of worshippers "in the Congregational or
Presbyterian way." It will, perhaps, be remembered
that, although the infant society refused to build their
meeting-house beyond the confines of civilization,
they took the land off Hoyle's hands. It was used as
a burial-ground until late in the eighteenth century.
Fifty-two of the contributors to the new fire-engine
in 1760 lived on the west side of Weybosset
Bridge.

Some ten years later, the Providence town-meeting
deemed it advisable to draw up certain supplement-

Tr ogress 225

ary "Rules and Regulations" for the proper proced-
ure in time of fire. These treated the matter in more
detail than those furnished by the Colonial Assem-
bly. The town fathers, in their published code, re-
quired "every Person to take Care ... to inform
where the Fire is," and at the same time warned
"every Person" that before running to the fire he
should "take Care to put on his Cloaths, and take his
Buckets in his Hand." Once arrived at the scene of
action, all were to be "as silent as possible, that they
may hear the Directions," and to obey the same
"without Noise or Contradiction." A timely caution
to those "who have the Right to command at Fires"
follows. They must "take great Care to appear calm
and firm on those Occasions, and give their . . .
Directions with distinct Clearness, and great Author-
ity"; and above all, "be very careful not to con-
tradict one another." To the turbulent democracy
at large there is addressed a tactful statement to
the effect that the authority thus exercised by the
fire-wardens is not given them "meerly that they
may command and domineer over their Neighbours
. . . but the absolute Necessity of the Case requires
it, and the Safety of the whole depends upon it,"
etc.

We feel, as we read, that the pioneer fire-brigades
of Providence strongly resembled that famous regi-
ment of Artemus Ward's, wherein all the privates
demanded to be brigadier-generals.

Chapter VII

THE SHIPPING TRADE

THERE is another aspect of the town's
growth, and it is one of fundamental im-
portance. The influence of the fast-swelling
commerce of the port of Providence must have been
a considerable factor, not only in providing solid
profits wherewith to pay for court-house and school-
house, but still more in enlarging the mental, as well
as the nautical, horizon of her worthy traders. It
brought to the complacent stay-at-home people a
realizing sense of their own shortcomings as com-
pared with those of other communities.

As a matter of fact, the commerce of Rhode Island
antedates her existence as a colony. The wide-
awake Dutch colonists of the seventeenth century
had established their trading-posts in Narragansett
Bay before either Roger Williams or Anne Hutchin-
son took refuge on its quiet shores. Nor were the set-
tlers of Newport slow to enter into their heritage.
Their lands were scarcely surveyed before a sawmill
was set up and timber cut for the export trade. Ship-
yards were filling orders as early as 1646. The ship-
ping-trade of Newport grew with really wonderful
rapidity, and until well into the eighteenth century
she was the headquarters for by far the greater part

The Shipping Trade 227

of the trade of Providence, in manufactured articles
and dry goods.

We may be very sure that local imports in both
these lines of trade were but meagre during the
seventeenth century. The farmers of Providence
were far too poverty-stricken to indulge in much
besides the necessaries of existence. Such articles
as were brought into town from Newport or Reho-
both were paid for in tobacco, pease, and similar
farm produce. The annals of the Providence ship-
ping of the seventeenth century are quickly told.
The first evidence of an export trade appears in 1652,
when John Smith of Providence sent a consignment
of flour, tobacco, and pease to Newfoundland. By
the end of another ten years we find indications of
a more or less extensive trade between Providence
and Barbadoes. When William Field made his will,
in 1665, he included among the items of his property
"all that cargo that is now upon Sending to the
Barbados," and also "that which is asyett coming
to me from the Barbados, which is from thence
due to me."

As for imports, there are two recorded voyages
made by the sloop of Providence Williams (the oldest
son of Roger) . One was on that well-known occasion,
at the close of King Philip's War, when he removed
the Indian prisoners from Providence to the colony
gaol at Newport. The other took place three years
later, when Captain Arthur Fenner "shipped on

2 2 8 'Providence in Colonial Times

board of providence Williams his Sloope" three
barrels of rum, one hundredweight of sugar, one
panier, and "one Collor for a horse." Five years
after the shipment of this important consignment,
we find a Boston skipper bringing into Newport four
casks of rum and two barrels of molasses for " the
use and Account of John Whipple of the Towne of
Providence." ,

By this time (1684) warehouse lots along the
shore, <<with the privilege of a whorfe allso," had
been already granted to some dozen of the more
stirring spirits among the townspeople. In 17 12,
Nathaniel Brown of Kittle Point was given land on
Weybosset Neck for his shipyard. Although doubt
has been expressed as to the actual setting-up of the
shipyard at that point, — since five years later that
and other adjacent and unimproved lands were laid
out by the town as town-land, — there can be no
doubt that somewhere Nathaniel Brown built vessels
for Providence traders, and notably for the two
Crawfords, Major William and Captain John. Nor
was Nathaniel Brown the only shipwright available.
There are evidences of the existence of a shipyard at
the southern end of the Towne Street in these early
days of the eighteenth century; while before 1720,
John Barnes was filling orders at his shipyard north
of Weybosset Bridge, at the foot of the present
Waterman Street.

By 1720, the era of the sea-trade of Providence was

The Shipping Trade 229

fairly under way. The eight years intervening since
the town's grant to Nathaniel Brown had witnessed
the appearance in this particular field of action of the
men who became the merchant-adventurers of the
little seaport. Their pluck and perseverance laid the
foundations of firms whose reputation has become
international. The long lethargy of the Providence
husbandman was broken. He awoke to the fact that
swapping live stock and "parcels" of land need not
fill life's possibilities for himself and his sons. He
went down to the sea in ships; he came in contact
with men of other countries, nationalities, and cus-
toms ; and he gained thereby a self-reliance, a poise,
a capacity for dealing with men and with affairs,
which is attained in no school save that of experience.
The man who took a sloop of from twenty to sixty
tons burden from the Providence wharf on the
Towne Street to St. Eustatius, Martinique, or Suri-
nam, there to dispose of his cargo of horses, lumber,
candles, and cheese, and to purchase a cargo for the
return voyage, must needs have been a man of judg-
ment, of shrewd business ability, of resource, and of
an energy that frequently merged into audacity.

Foremost in the ranks of those who exchanged
the profession of farmer and land-trader for that of
sailor and ship-owner, we find representatives of the
Tillinghast, Power, and Brown families. Colonel
Nicholas Power was the third of that name. His
grandfather settled in Providence in 1642. His father

230 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

was killed in the Great Swamp Fight of King Philip's
War. It may be that as his infant son grew to man-
hood his imagination was stirred by tales of the large
plantations in Surinam, which were said to have been
his grandfather's. It is sad to have to allow that the
estates were purely mythical, but young Nicholas —
like many another lad — may have found in fancy a
stimulus to action far more potent than prosaic facts.
It is not improbable that Nicholas Power found op-
portunity to crystallize his dreams in the form of
shares in the vessels of his brother-in-law, Benjamin
Tillinghast, the son of our old acquaintance. Elder
Pardon Tillinghast. When Benjamin Tillinghast
died in 1726, he left to his heirs a "third part" of one
sloop, and "a quarter part" of another, while his
warehouses were replete with " coco, salt, sugar,
molasses Rum and other Spirits," and sundry ship
goods. Colonel Nicholas Power and his wife, Mercy
Tillinghast, were blessed with a family of five daugh-
ters and one son. The oldest daughter, Hope Power,
was wooed and won by a sailor lad, and on December
21, 1722, she bestowed her heart and hand on the
rising young captain and ship-owner, James Brown.
This James Brown was the great-grandson of Chad
Brown, "first-comer," and also first town-surveyor.
His father — likewise James — was a well-to-do
citizen and husbandman, and a steadfast upholder of
the Baptist doctrine according to the " six principles
in Hebrews 6. i. 2." There is still extant a letter of

The Shipping Trade 2 3 1

his, written to elucidate his views in the eyes of " a
meeting of the baptized congregation in providence,"
in which he makes use of the following quaint illus-
tration: "Whyaneyman Should pretend to leve out
aney one of those six principles sencit will but
Weaken the building — I propose that if aney man
should agree with a carpender to build him a house
and to finish it Workmanlike for such a Sum of
money, and the carpender should Leve out one of the
principle parts or foundation of the house, the man
would find fait and Workmen would condem the
carpender. Suppose the man should indent with the
carpender to make 6 windos in the ist room, but the
carpender being in a hurre makes but 5, the man
would be afended and the carpender condemed by
good workmen, but if this way of reasoning bee
Wright then to leve out areaone of the six princyples
of christs docterin is rong. but to keep them together
as in hebrews the 6th makes a rule of communian.'*
Elder James Brown stood by his creed with that
uncompromising "rigour" of which the worthy Mrs.
Battle was so earnest an advocate. He is on record as
one of those who agreed that " if any Brother or Sister
shall join in Prayer without the bounds of the Church
they are liable to be dealt with by the Church for
their offending their Brethren." James, Junior, also
signed this expression of unanimity of opinion, — if
not of good will. A few years later, however, a more
charitable point of view commended itself to him.

232 Trovidence in Colonial Times

and in a somewhat remarkable document, written in
May, 1738, about a year before his death, he ad-
dresses his neighbors as follows : " That if it be the
pleasure of the Heavens to take the Breath out of my
Mortal Body . . . I am Quite free and Willing that
My Body may be Opened, in Order that my fellow
Cretures and Neighbours may See Whether My
Grievance hath been nothing but the Spleen or not.
And one thing more I would leave with you (my
Neighbours) which is the Ignorance of all Ministers
who have disputes and debates Concerning the way
of their Sarving their God ; they do not consider that
it is Makeing him inferiour to themselves ; which Me-
thinks they would not do, if they could but see and
Consider that they themselves have an Equal Respect
to their Children, Servants, or Others of their fellow
Creatures when they Serve them Equally alike."

This, however, is anticipating the chronological
order of events. Almost two years before he became
the husband of Hope Power, James Brown, Junior,
— then a young man of twenty-three, — appears as
one of five partners, "all of Providence," who em-
ployed a certain "John Barns of Providence" to
build a sloop ; " said Sloope to be forty five foote by
the Keele ; seaventeene foot and halfe by the beame
and seavon foot and halfe in the Whole." She was
to be delivered "afloate on the north side of Way-
bausett Bridg," and to be paid for "after the Rate of
Two pounds & seaventeene shillings pr Tun." An-

The Shipping Trade 233

other digression from the path of chronological nar-
ration must be made at this point to enable us to cal-
culate the tonnage of the new sloop by means of
the rule neatly inscribed in "John Brown s Cipher
Book, some thirty years later. In this way we learn
that John Brown's father's sloop, built in 172 1, was a
vessel of about seventy-three tons. When the con-
tract was signed, James Brown owned a quarter in-
terest in the new boat. Before a year had passed he
had purchased another quarter.

Events followed fast in the life of this resolute
young man during the next few years. He was mar-
ried in December, 1722. Six weeks later we find him
on the quarter-deck of "the Sloop Named the four
bachelors," as Captain James Brown. The good
sloop was lying in Newport Harbor, ready " to Sayl
with the first fair Wind & Weather ... to Some of
the Leeward Islands in the West Indies." When
there, her captain was ordered to dispose of the
cargo, and also of the sloop " if an Oportunity pre-
sents . . . and To lay out the produce thereof in
Such Commodityes ... as your Judgement & dis-
cresion Shall direct you : for our best advantage . . .
and So God Send you a prosperous Voyage." And
with this pious wish, good Nicholas Power signed his
name, " in behalf of myself & Company owners of
the Said Sloop and Cargo on board." By the follow-
ing October the gallant captain had come safe to
port, and we are surely justified in assuming the voy-

2 34 ^Providence in Colonial Times

age a prosperous one, for once ashore Captain James
straightway opened a shop on the Towne Street, on a
warehouse lot some seventy feet south of the corner
where College Street meets Market Square, and just
across the way from his own home. It is to the wise
forethought of his youngest son, Moses, that we of
the present day are indebted for the preservation of
the documents in which these details are found. That
same indefatigable investigator of things genealogical
and historical has left us two, out of three, of his
father's shop-ledgers, and they have proved a mine
of information for all facts and details respecting the
stock in trade and business methods of this the first
department store in Providence.

JAMES BROWNS FIRST LEDGER
1723
opens with an index of his customers, alphabetically
arranged according to the initial letter of their given
names, and phonetically spelled in accordance with
the compiler's interpretation of sound. Under the
letter "B" we find —

Brother Joseph
Bainonai Crabtrey
Bainonai watterman
Brother andrew Brown

Under "D" we have—

Danel Oldney
doctor Gebbs
doctor Jabis Boin

Letter OF "Directions" from James Brown to his
Wife, August 23, 1737

From the Moses Brown Papers, vol. i, p. 3, in the Rhode
Island Historical Society.

i.il t

. ■.'lii ...iu/. |_ i/:o;n '' gzciToa^iCI " --lo ^axTi f
.vtaiooH ifiohoJarH bnclel

ma.i,L(_f^A

'Ui^'^^ 3?^"-' ^*~'' -?»t/L^.^

^-:£5ir* v-.^

■ C^- e;'^--■^^/i,^,./,^,
^%44^: ''^l '^C 'Ttc . .^..r,a ^

a./^"

The Shipping Trade 235

"F" shows us —

Father Brown
feirnot packer
francis hambllton
Father Power

Occasionally a man's trade is given, as "Paul
the tanner, Allin the Blockmason, Tom indian."
A stranger is often designated as such: ''Thomas
Stevens of Plainfield; William admons of Wan-
soket."

The indebtedness of the customer is entered item
by item on the left-hand page, and opposite appear
such articles accepted, or services rendered, as may
be credited to his account. The first entry in the
book serves to conclude the tale of the cruise of the
Four Bachelors to the Leeward Islands. Under the
date of October 9, 1723, we read that Mr. Nicholas
Powers's account is settled, and that there is "du to
him ;^4. o. I, onley he is to pay £y]. 10. o to the
wanscut main [men] for their partes of the sloope
foure Bachilors."

The responsibilities of captain, supercargo, and
shopkeeper did not weigh so heavily on our young
merchant-adventurer as to repress all manifestations
of that exuberance of spirits which is one of the pre-
rogatives of youth. On at least one occasion his su-
perfluous energy so shocked the standard of decorum
prevailing in Newport that a worthy citizen of that
highly respectable town entered a complaint against

236 ^Providence in Colonial Times

**Capt. James Browne Junr ... for the breach of
his majestyes Peace." Captain James, on being
brought before the court at Providence, "owned the
fact," and was sentenced to pay "the Sum of twelve
shillings Currant money as a fine to his Majestye."
We have no information as to the manner in which
the peace of Newport was thus violently disturbed.
Perhaps Captain James Brown's idea of fun was not
dissimilar to that of his sons, some twenty-five years
later, when Moses Brown, at Lebanon, was informed
by a letter of young Jabez Bowen that "Brothers J.
Brown and J. Updike have Broke the Meeting Hous
windows. You must make hast home or Else you
will Loose the Cream." It seems pretty evident that
Captain James made sure of the "Cream," and
cheerfully paid the bill.

It is also evident that a man of his energy and abil-
ity would not find either of these attributes exhausted
by the demands of his business on the Towne Street.
Wife, home, and shop could not suffice to keep our
gallant captain in port. On February 24, 1727, he
"sailed oute from Behind dumpileng" (Dumpling),
master of the sloop Truth and Delight, with "a Brave
Gail and fair wether . . . Bounde to martinneco."
Luckily for the inquirer of to-day. Captain James
took with him his book of geometrical and nautical
problems, evidently a relic of his prentice days at sea,
for he has written on the fly leaf, " Begun Octob the
24th 1719." The little volume is chiefly concerned

The Shipping Trade 237

with "Navigation, an art by which the Industrious
marriner Is Enabled to Conduct a Ship the Shortest
& Safest way between any two assigned places,"
and to assure that desirable end there are carefully
worked-out problems in "Plain Sailing," in "Com-
pound Courses," and in " Parallel Sailing."

The last ten pages have preserved for us the log
of the Truth and Delight, We find the customary
record of wind and weather. On March 4, " verey
Blustering wether with rain" covered the decks with
twelve inches of water, and stove in the hogsheads
placed there. On March 14, Fort Royal in Martinico
was reached, and until May 31, the Truth and Delight
lay in port, unloading her cargo of eleven horses,
fifteen hogsheads of Indian corn, sixteen hundred-
weight of tobacco, seven hundred pounds of cheese,
six barrels of tar, twelve thousand, six hundred feet
of boards, and twelve thousand shingles. This ac-
complished, and "a Barril of rum for the vessels
youse" purchased. Captain Brown secured a return
cargo of forty hogsheads of molasses and sixteen
hogsheads of rum, and "Sailed oute of Martineco
. . . Bound for Roadisland of a wensday a Bought
5 in the afternoon" of May 31. The monotony of
the ship's log on the home voyage is broken on one
occasion by the record of "two dolphin caught to
day Butt have no Butter to et with them : which is
verey hard," the Captain adds. By June 19, the
Truth and Delight was almost at Newport Harbor:

238 "Providence in Colonial Times

"haid the Lastime we sounded 43 faddoms . . .
which I Jug to Be in Blok island Chanil," writes
her captain, and with "a good Bres at S W," the
stanch little sloop spread her white wings and bore
away toward home.

From this time Captain James appears to have
given up following the sea as a profession. As an
investment, he continued to follow with keen interest
the conditions of foreign and home markets until his
early death, in 1739. Indeed, the demands of his
trade as shopkeeper would seem to have required
much time and sagacity, — both as buyer and seller.
His shop offered an assortment of necessities and
luxuries so varied as to be positively picturesque.
Thither his neighbors came for wheat, flannel,
brooms, cotton-wool, linen cloth, pepper, flax, boards
(oak and other), beef, stockings, twine, dry goods
such as Osnaburgs, silk, crape, garlits, etc. ; bottles,
grindstones, powder and shot, and more frequently
than for aught else — rum, molasses, and salt. Good,
pious Elder James's account, for the last months of
his upright life, ran like this : —

Nov. 22, 173 1 father is du to gallon rum
to quarter pound powder
25 to Boshil soke

dec. 8 to gallon Rum

to deto
Jan. I to deto Andrew had

28 to deto

febry 29 to gallon rum and cheese

o. 7. o

o. I. 4

o. 7. o

o. 7. O

o. 7. o

o- 13- S

The Shipping Trade 239

In the following year we learn that: —

Father power is du to sundres as folloth

£ s d

firste to apair of stokins o. 7. o

to two yardes and hallf garlik at 4J". o. 10. o

to Cotton woll nicholis had i. 4. o
to Cotton woll and molasis a man had that

Came with mosey o. 14. o
to timber, making & setting up gates & other

fence in the nek i. 7. o

to the youse of my scow o. 2. 6

to pd. Samwell Ladd for shuing his horse o. i. 7

to the frate of glas & Led from Boston o. 5.0

to Earthen wair o. 4. 6

to a pair stokins o. 12. 6

to deto o. 12. 6

to a gallon rum o. 6. 6

to money o. 10. o

to 3 Raks o. 6. o

to a saith o. 13. o

to arum Borges o. i. 8

7- 17- 9

— while on the opposite page Father Power is duly

credited with malt, oakum, and fish, amounting to

£l- 9- 4-

When Colonel Power died in 1734, his son-in-law
mourned his loss of a kind friend and sagacious ad-
viser. His will testifies to the good feeling existing
between the two men, for to James and Hope Brown
are left two " small lots of land," one on the east, and
one on the west side of the Great River. The other
married daughters and their husbands received each
one "small lot of land."

240 "Providence in Colonial Times

The Colonel lived in a rather more sumptuous
fashion than the majority of his neighbors. His
spacious homestead on the Towne Street, where the
Talma Theatre now stands, was graced with the
smiles and blushes of five gay girls, and must have
welcomed many a jolly party within the "greate
lower room" of which his appraisers tell us. His was
one of the earliest, if not the first, house in Providence
to be provided with a "dineing room." Among the
"dineing room furniture" was an oval table of a size
to accommodate fourteen chairs and "a Leather
Cheair," doubtless that of the Colonel himself. And-
irons, tongs, and fire-shovel bear authentic witness
to the capacious fireplace, whose dimensions outdid
even our modern standards of hospitality. Next, we
must fancy a "Large Lookeing Glass," a clock, a
glass-case (presumably a corner cupboard), and ta-
ble plenishings of pewter, for the most part. We are
told that the "dineing room" provided also "Chafe-
ing Dishes, 3 Brass skillets, a Brass Kittle, 2 Punch
boles and a stone Jugg & Cups."

Among the neighbors that fancy so readily pic-
tures, gathered about the Colonel's hospitable board,
and the smoking punch-bowl which served as centre-
piece, let us single out Captain James Brown. He
and his wife's father doubtless figured the profits on
many an invoice, and planned the course of many a
cruise — whether to Newfoundland, New York, or
the West Indies. Another son-in-law of Colonel

Sign of "The Bunch of Grapes "

One of the most famous of the early commercial signs of
Providence, and dating from about 1760. Now in the
museum of the Rhode Island Historical Society.

/J:)rjo8 IfijiK

jiVjtjl J'Jl' [

The Shipping Trade 2 4 1

Power's was also a frequent visitor, and his shrewd
counsel was often at the service of Captain James.
This was John Stuart, goldsmith, whose profession
did not make such exhaustive demands on his time
and attention but that he was able to give a share of
both to the carrying-trade. He was the owner of a
*' sloope and the appertinances thereunto belonging,"
and must have been an appreciative listener to the
sea-yarns exchanged between Colonel Power and
Captain James Brown. He and the Captain had their
own little personal transactions, probably to the sat-
isfaction of both parties, for we find in the Captain's
shop-ledger charges for lamb, tar, broadcloth, mo-
hair, boards, rum, etc., and finally a memorandum
to the effect that there will be due to John Stuart on
the last of the following November, " if he Keeps the
Clock in order as in time past he hath, the Sum of ten
shillings."

John Stuart had a clock of his own valued at no
less than forty pounds, while his silver watch was
estimated at twenty-five. He also owned a violin,
and a most extraordinary possession it must have
seemed to his good friends and neighbors. His gold-
smith's trade was no illusion, although we can hardly
think of Providence as a centre for the manufacture
of jewelry so early as the year of grace 1736. How-
ever tliat may be, we have his appraisers' recorded
testimony to the effect that John Stuart left gold-
smith's tools to the value of sixty pounds, and also

242 Providence in Colonial Times

"one Penney Wt. 22 Grains of Gold: 21 oz. 10 Pwt.,
Silver," the whole coming to £'^0. 19. 8.

Colonel Power's estate likewise included a sloop,
The Sparrow, worth one hundred pounds. He owned
a warehouse, a cooper's shop, a cider-mill, and three
stills ; and it is worthy of remark that this is the first
mention of the machinery of the distiller's trade, on
a scale to furnish more than personal consumption,
that has been found among the Providence inven-
tories. Colonel Power had also a cheese-press, four
negro slaves, a silver-hilted sword, an ivory-headed
cane, decanters, wine-glasses, and silver plate. In
short, all the requisite household furnishings that
became a "good old English gentleman" and a
merchant-adventurer.

As we have seen, the greater portion of " Father
Power's" bill for "sundres" and other supplies was
paid by an exchange of commodities, or services, and
the statement holds good respecting the majority
of the customers who patronized this eighteenth-
century emporium. In 1736, Robert Nixon cancelled
his debt for rum, coffee, sugar, rice, and pepper by
making "nine froks ... he finding thread & but-
tons," for three shillings each. For making "a pair
of trows's & finding thread &c.," this accomplished
tailor was paid two shillings and sixpence. Even
neighborly courtesies, whether muscular or mechani-
cal, were exchanged on a strictly cash basis. The
account of Shadrach Kees is a case in point. Kees

The Shipping Trade 243

was an enterprising townsman, who owned a sloop
(Xhe Humhird) in partnership with James Brown
and Captain Jabez Bowen. In October, 1730, The
Humhird, Richard Waterman, master, came home
with a cargo of flour, from a voyage to New York.
In November of that year James Brown's ledger
reads : —

6. 10. 9
Nov. 25 to an oar and rum Shadrah Keis is du

for o. 7. 3

and to stoaring of a Cabbil and . . .

for neir a yeir o. 3.0

to his sloope Lieing at my whorfe o. 5. o
to his sloope Lieing at my whorfe
after he Borte my parte and his
going onto the whorfe with Cartes o. 10. o
Ct to the aBove sd Keis for the youse
of his parte of the sloope humbord
to fecth from the sloope febbey
[Phcehe] ... o. 5. o

and to deto to goin to Newporte o. 5. o
and to the youse of an old Cabbil to

mak the sloope febbey faste with o. 2. o

Buying and selling, whether over the counter, or
"as per invoice," by no means exhausted James
Brown's business resources. He had as many ways
of turning an honest penny as the traditional "hired
man" could have invented for the solution of a
problem in practical mechanics. Brown lent money
at interest, carried on a slaughter-house business,
rented either horse or scow as occasion served, pro-
vided quarters for storage, and drove a thriving trade

2 44 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

with his distillery, — not to mention the crowning
venture of his mercantile career in sending the pio-
neer slave-ship from the port of Providence to the
Guinea Coast. His interests in the shipping trade
were more important than all his other pursuits com-
bined, and assuredly they possess far more interest
for us of to-day.

We watched Captain James himself sail out of
Narragansett Bay, bound for Martinique, in 1727. No
doubt he shared in many a West-Indian venture of
which there is no record before the year 1731, when
we next find him definitely mentioned in connection
with a voyage to the Caribbees, made by the sloop
Humhird, under Richard Waterman. Only a few
years more have slipped by when we find " Brother
Obadiah" acting as captain on one of these West-
Indian craft, while " Brother James" is giving sailing
orders, and figuring on expenses and profits. Oba-
diah Brown, born in 17 12, was number eight in
a family of ten children. There was a difference of
fourteen years between him and ''Brother James,"
the oldest of that goodly assemblage of olive-
branches. A warm attachment existed between the
two. On James's death, at the early age of forty-
one, it was Obadiah who acted the part of counsel-
lor and father to his four younger sons, the oldest of
whom was but ten years, and the youngest seven
months old. Obadiah is said to have sailed on his
first cruise in 1733, in the sloop Dolphin. The inval-

The Shipping Trade 245

uable ledger tells us that he was at sea in 1734, for he
is specifically charged for

ospltel money for his voig to the weste indes

53/^ months o. 13. o

To his parte of damig dun a squairsall 13. o

to Cloath mohair and Bottens 2. 16. 3

Ct to sd Obadiah Brown for wagis on Bord

the sloope marey as pr portridg Bill 5^/^

months at £3 \os. £19. 05. o

In the spring of 1735, Obadiah, then a young man
of twenty-three, sailed again for the West Indies,
with a cargo of horses, flour, and tobacco. On March
30 he wrote from " St Estasha,'* —

Loving Brother

After my duty to Mother and Love to my brothers
and Sister and all my friends hoping thes will find you
all in helth as I am at this present — I have ben Dis-
apointed of my expecttaclon I secured no molasses
before the twenty forth of this month. I have now
fifty hhds onbord at five stivers pr galond but I hope
to git the rest for les . . . horses and tobaco is in good
demand . . .

So I remain your loving Brother

Obadiah Browne

A year later elaborate preparations were making in
Providence for a cruise involving far greater respon-
sibilities. The "Sloope Mary, John Godfrey, Mas-
ter,'* was fitting for a voyage of nearly twelve
months' duration to the ill-famed Guinea Coast.
Among sundry bills, still carefully fastened with the
round-headed pins of the eighteenth century to the

246 ^Providence in Colonial Times

leaves of James Brown's "Ledger," is the account of
Thomas Harding, blacksmith, for "ironwork dun for
the Genne Slupe," in the spring of 1736. He fur-
nished an extraordinary assortment of spikes, large
and small, **a Scuttle bar and 2 Stapels," weighing
together between eight and nine pounds, "a hach
bar'* of nine pounds weight, and lastly, the sinis-
ter item, "35 pare of handcoofs." Nor must we fail
to include among the enumerated preparations the
drum, purchased of Elisha Tillinghast for "Three
pounds Cash ... To Go in the Marey to Ginne."

In the absence of any indication to the contrary we
may assume that the Mary was loaded with the usual
cargo of rum, an article always in demand in the
African market, and readily procured in Providence,
where molasses for the distilling trade was imported
as early as 1684. James Brown himself owned two
stills, and the skill of Rhode-Island distillers was such
that they were popularly said to make a gallon of
rum from each gallon of molasses consigned them.
The usual proportion was ninety-six gallons of rum
for one hundred of molasses.

Obadiah's position on board the Mary was that of
"factor," that is, the management of sales and pur-
chases was in his hands. He had a one-eighth interest
in the sloop and her cargo, and it is to him — and not
to Captain Godfrey — that James writes in March,
1737, as follows: "Loveing brother, I rec'd yours
dated the 25th of November ; wherein you say you

The Shipping Trade 247

[are] come to a poor market." Obadiah was by no
means alone in this account of the conditions prevail-
ing on the slave coast. In the same season letters
from Newport captains declare that " there never was
so much Rum on the Coast at one time before . . .
slaves is very scarce: we have had nineteen sails of us
at one time in the Rhoad, so that those ships that
used to carry pryme slaves off is now forsed to take
any that comes."

Far from being daunted by bad news of the mar-
ket, James philosophically remarks, —

But you are all well, which is good news, for health
in this world is better than welth, you wrote Something
Concerning your Mother, these may informe you that
She died about two Months after you Saild, and I hope
She is now more happy than either of us are we being
burthened with this world and She at rest as I hope,
after this I would tell you ... by all means make
dispatch in your business If you cannot Sell all your
Slaves to your mind bring some home I beleive they
will Sell well, gett Molasses if you can, and if you
Cannot come without It, leave no debts behind upon
no Account, gett some Sugar & Cotten If you Can
handily, but be Sure make dispatch for that Is the life
of trade

James Browne

These words of wisdom and counsel were sent to
meet "Obadiah Browne Merchant" at the West-
Indian market whither the slaves were taken for sale,
and the sloop loaded with a second cargo for the
Providence trade. They were acted upon with that

248 Providence in Colonial Times

zeal and accuracy which marked Obadiah's business
career. By the twenty-sixth of the following May,
James Brown was offering the Marys cargo to his
customers in the back country, in these terms: "Sr.
if I Remember Rite you deziared me to Right you a
few Lines at the Arivol of my Gineman. theas may
informe you that she is Arived and you may have A
slave if you Cum or send Befoar they are Gon I have
soke plentey if you want and sevoral other Sortes of
Goods if you desaine [design] downe you Cannot Be
two soon."

In a statement of accounts, dated 1737, and en-
titled a "Settlement between Obadiah & myself,"
signed by James Brown, there is set down, with a
careful detail and great precision, sufficient of the
minutiae of the sloop Marys "present Voyage too
& from Guenia" to enable us to fill up the remaining
gaps without overtaxing our imagination. Evidently
the rum was taken to Africa, and there bartered for
negroes, — men, women, and children. The slaves
were carried to the West Indies and sold, while the
proceeds were invested in Jamaica or St. Croix rum,
powder, salt, cordage, guns, coffee, Osnaburgs, and
duck; — nor must we omit the "three Slaves that
he brought home being ;^I20." Obadiah had one-
eighth interest in profits and losses, and received his
wages as agreed by contract. The estimated value of
the cargo finally unloaded at the wharf of " Brother
James" is ;^26oi. 16. 10.

The Shipping Trade 249

Figures speak for themselves, even if they occa-
sionally speak for those who figure, and in the face
of the above-mentioned estimate, we cannot wonder
that the old sea-captain sent out his promising
brother in the following year as " Master of the Sloop
Rainbow," a vessel of eighty tons burden, built for
James Brown by Roger Kinnicutt, at his shipyard on
the West Side of the Great River, a little east of the
present Dorrance Street.

On a mild winter's day in February, 1738, Captain
Obadiah dropped down Providence River, under
orders running somewhat as follows: " i.ly to make
what dispatch possable you can to Newport, and
there take of George Gibbs your bread for your
Voiage and gett some hay and other Materials for the
Voiage, and then make the best of your way to Bar-
badoes — Speak with no Vessell on your passage if
you can help it; when you are Arrived, do with your
Cargoe as you think will be most to my Advantage,
if you think best Sell there, and if not goe Else where,
be Sure to Keep your Selfe in your right mind if
possable, if any Misfortune Attend you lay it not to
heart, but Consider that there is a higher power that
Governs all things, and if you are likely to meet with
good fortune consider the same: and possably those
two thoughts may keep you in a medium as all men
ought to be : you must not charge me but five pr Cent
Sales & two & halfe Returns," continues the worthy
elder brother, dropping his role of mentor somewhat

250 ^Providence in Colonial Times

summarily; "you must bring me an Accompt how
you Sell each Article too and for how much/* And
he comes to the gratifying conclusion that " in doing
as near as possable you can to my directions I make
no doubt but the heavens will bless you in your pro-
ceedings."

A month later the Rainbow s captain sent word
from St. Eustatius that he had sold "nothing but my
Candels and them at a very low rate," and that, in
his dissatisfaction with the state of the market, he had
"a Design to try for Martinnecko," where the recent
destruction of "the town at St peairs" by fire had
created a great demand for lumber. Obadiah had
laid his hands on all that was available, nearly thirty
thousand feet. "If I Stay hear," he writes, "or at
any of the Inglish Islands I shall not do that as You
Sent me for: that is to gett Money": and a few lines
further on, — "it is thought that the french trade will
soon be opened. I shall taek as much Cair of your
Bisines as Posibel I can and if I Dont light of no mis-
fortin I shall make you a good voige; for I have a
good prospect at present, but you have all ways had
Misfortin in this Vessel which Maeks me afraid, but
... If I Should never Venter nothing I Should
never have nothing."

In view of these sentiments, and of the lumber
market awaiting him at Martinique, we are not sur-
prised that the young skipper did not wait for the
French trade to be opened by decree or by interna-

The Shipping Trade 2 5 1

tional agreement, but, having satisfied himself by
personal arrangement with the authorities there of
the security of his vessel, announced in a postscript
that he was "a going to Marteneck to load." Inci-
dentally he mentions the presence of several Pro-
vidence captains in his vicinity. Christopher Smith
was at St. Martin's, John Crawford and John Field
at Antigua, Sam Gorton at St. Kitt's. These young
sea-dogs are all entered in James Brown's ledgers as
"du" to rum, molasses, salt, and other staple com-
modities.

Christopher Smith was not improbably at this time
disposing of a cargo representing James Brown's
interests as well as his own. The statement of his
voyage to "the weste indes" in 1733 is duly entered
on the ledger, and shows his proportion of responsi-
bility for ship supplies, wear and tear, and hospital
money, — as also that he delivered in part payment
thereof nineteen hundred and fifty-five pounds of
tobacco.

Captain John Field died at St. Eustatius, precisely
one month from the date ofObadiah's letter. In 1736
he had taken the Rainbow to Surinam for James
Brown, on her maiden voyage. When ashore he
patronized the shop, buying rum, board-nails,
writing-paper, sugar, garlits, and arumborges, as
well as hay, oats, and a "holtor to fit out his horse."
His personal possessions included 818^ gallons of
molasses, 434 gallons of rum, "4 Pistols of Gold,"

252 "Providence in Colonial Times

and a quarter interest in the sloop MerigoU, — a
name pleasantly suggesting the well-known flower,
marigold, but in reality a colloquial corruption of
Mary Gould.

Sam Gorton, too, appears in James Brown's books
in 1736, as master of the schooner Jnuy the first
instance noted of a vessel larger than a sloop hailing
from Providence. It would be interesting to know if
Obadiah's luck at Martinique broke the charm of
"misfortin" which appeared to attend the Rainbow.
Her maiden trip to Surinam, with John Field as
master, was marred by the loss of part of her return
cargo of molasses.

Before sending her out again, James Brown sold
one-eighth interest in her to Captain Abraham An-
gell. A cargo was then shipped to St. Eusta tins, with
Captain Angell as master of the vessel. But once in
the West Indies, the attractions of that balmy clime
proved so potent that the Rhode-Islander lingered,
regardless of that "dispatch which is the life of
trade." He dallied so long as completely to exhaust
the patience of his partner and employer, and to
bring down upon himself a burst of righteous indig-
nation. " I would have you Cum directly home upon
site heirof with what you Can Gett and Wate no
Longer on aney accounte," wrote James Brown.
Not only were his words to the point, but they were
reinforced with all the majesty of the law. By the
same ship a letter to his correspondent in St. Eustatius

The Shipping Trade 253

carried with it a power-of-attorney, and succinct
directions to the effect that if Captain Angell would
not listen to reason he should be called "to ann
a Counte and put in his mate . . . master and send
the vesil directly home." This was done, and a voy-
age to Barbadoes intervened before the Rainbow
carried Obadiah to the Spanish Main. But it is evi-
dent that her reputation was none of the best. Her
owner refers to her as "the unlokey sloope," but does
not appear inclined to take many chances on her
market value, since he forthwith states "the price of
her as she Cums now in " at fourteen hundred pounds.
The last of Obadiah's sea-letters was written at
Surinam, in June, 1739, two months and more after
the death of the "loveing Brother" to whom it was
addressed. It is not improbable that this was Oba-
diah's last voyage. His business interests at Provi-
dence were already far from inconsiderable, and to
the care of his own wife and child was now added
that of his brother's fatherless sons. From this date
we may think of him snugly ensconced in his home
on the Towne Street, a little north of the " Parade,"
as our Market Square was already styled. The career
of ship-master passed in appropriate succession to his
nephew James, the oldest of his brother's five boys,
and a lad of fifteen in 1739, at the time of his father's
death. If we may be guided by our newly acquired
experience of the characteristics of the Brown family,
we shall be justified in putting the younger James

2 54 "Providence in Colonial Times

afloat almost as soon as he enters the foreground of
this nautical sketch. We know that he was in com-
mand of his own sloop in 1748.

There is still to be seen in the John Carter Brown
Library the atlas which James Brown "Bought in
Boston . . . pris ;^io. 10." This valuable addition
to the ship's furniture is in reality the fourth volume
of a London publication entitled, The English Pilot
. . . Describing The West India Navigationy from
Hudson's Bay to the River Amazon, showing a
breadth of geographical definition worthy of the great
Columbus himself. Probably it accompanied its
owner on the tempestuous coasting-trip he has
described for the edification of his brother, in a letter
addressed to ^^.^ Nicholas Brown

Distiller in.

Providence

Rhoad island

and dated from Newbern, North Carolina, in Febru-
ary, 1749: —

We have under gon many hardships and Dificulties
Which I shall give you a few of the Pertlculers But to
Whrlte the Whole It Would take a quire of Paper. I
had a Passage of thirty one days ... I Lay two Part
of twenty four days With Such Gales of Wind that It
Is Imposslbel to Exspres Beat and toar my Sails and
Riglng more than I should have Dun In Six months
moderate Wether, the Vessel Sprung A Leak the sec-
ond Night after I came out and Contlnewed the Whole
Passage So that Wee had a smart Spel at a pump Every
half hour . . . there Is Vessels hear that have had

The Shipping Trade ^SS

30-35 and 40 and 45 Days Passage and Vessels are
Lucked for that have Been out of Boston and York
six and seven Weeks; . . . markets Are Very Bad So
that our Goods Will Not fetch the firs Cost and theirs
dearer and scarcer than Ever they Was Known. . . .
Remember my harty and obedient Respect to my dear
mother Brothers and Sister Likewise to Unkel Ellsha.

In September of the following year Captain James
Brown left Providence in "the good Sloop Freelove'*
for Maryland, with a cargo of rum, molasses, sugar,
salt, pork, beef, etc., on account and risk of "Oba-
diah Brown and Company." It proved to be his last
voyage. He died in York, Virginia, on the fifteenth
of the following February.

Obadiah Brown and Company appeared among
the shopkeepers of Providence in 1750. The goods
which stocked their well-filled shelves were brought
from London in the good ship Smithjield, and the
filial affection of nephew Moses led him to preserve
his uncle's invoice "as the Beginning of his Shop
Keeping." It fills three closely written folio pages.
With the advent of this well-known firm we come to
a time when the economic atmosphere of Providence
had become fairly well permeated with an enlivening
sense of the advantages of the shipping-trade.

Obadiah's "Loveing Brother" James was obliged
to face several competitors during the latter years of
his business career. In the forties, a more varied
stock in trade was offered to the Providence public.
In 1 741, Stephen Dexter's estate consisted in large

256 'Providence in Colonial Times

part of an interesting assortment of shop-goods. The
local demand for books was met by "2 salters and
3 Primmers," and three Testaments. Besides the
standard woollens and linens we find gloves, garters,
ribbon, bobbin, pins, "10 paier of specttacles,"
handkerchiefs, knitting-needles, scissors and shears,
ink-cases and writing-paper, as well as padlocks,
"Thum Latches," brimstone, alum, copperas, all-
spice, nails of varied sizes, rice, and fishhooks.
Stephen Dexter should awaken the interest of the
good people of Providence for other than purely
commercial reasons. He married the daughter of
Ebenezer Knight, also a thriving shopkeeper, on the
West Side of the Great River. It was in Ebenezer's
"Calashe" that the Reverend Eleazer Wheelock was
privileged to enter the unregenerate town of Provi-
dence in that year of theological unrest, 1741. From
the union of the Knight and Dexter families was
descended that somewhat eccentric philanthropist,
Ebenezer Knight Dexter, whose sayings and doings
enlivened many a neighborly chat for a later gener-
ation.

As a rule, and perhaps as a matter of course, the
families of those men who followed the sea lived in
a more comfortable way, and were provided more
generously with articles of display and luxury, than
was the family of the average husbandman or me-
chanic. The captain of a sailing-vessel, or even the
less pretentious person described as "mariner," could

The Shipping Trade 257

almost invariably show a greater supply of household
furniture, and that of better quality, than would be
found in the homes of his neighbors whose ideas, as
well as their several callings, were purely local in
scope. In the later thirties of the eighteenth century
we find tables distinguished as square, oval, and
round. "High-back" chairs appear. One well-to-do
"mariner" left a "Cannisterof Tea"of one pound,
ten shillings value, and two "flowered Bottles."
Four years later we find that ancient mariner, Cap-
tain Abraham Angell, of the Rainbow, possessed of
"Chinia Tea Cups and Plates," and a large assort-
ment of "Chinia Punch Bowls." In the adjoining
cupboard were ten silver spoons, glass beakers and
wineglasses, and a teapot. His well-stocked kitchen-
closet could also boast two "Coffe mills." A neigh-
bor's sideboard was resplendent with "six Tea
spoones & Tongs & strainer." These, together with
" 2 Large silver spoones," were estimated at £(), and
their owner was likewise the proud proprietor of a
tea-kettle.

With the forties another family noted in the annals
of the merchant-marine of Providence comes to the
front. Stephen Hopkins was interested in "ven-
tures" on the high seas, and held shares in vessels
both here and in Newport before he became a resi-
dent of Providence. In 1735, he with four other
owners sent "the good Sloop called John " to Bar-
badoes "or Else where," with a cargo of horses,

2 5 8 ^Providence in Colonial Times

boards, shingles, hoops, staves, water hogsheads,
beef, pickled fish, tallow, and four pigs. Stephen's
brother, John Hopkins, was master of the vessel and
her assorted cargo, with which he was to do as he
should "Think fitt for the best advantage of the
Owners."

In 1737, Stephen was judiciously investing in the
West-Indian market through the agency of Captain
James Brown, who was buying and selling molasses
on account and risk of S. Hopkins. Of his five sons,
four were sailors, and three of the four lost their lives
amid the perils of the deep. Rufus, the Judge Hop-
kins of later years, was a sea-captain of the fifties.
John sickened of smallpox in Spain, while cruising
from one port to another with whatever cargo of
freight was nearest at hand. He died there at the age
of twenty-four, and his body was refused Christian
burial as being that of a heretic, without the pale of
the Church.

Silvanus was cast away on the Nova Scotia coast,
and murdered by Indians. George, the youngest of
the family, has left us an account of his experiences
when — a boy of nineteen — he accompanied his
uncle Esek, then in command of the brigantine
Providence^ on a privateering expedition to the South
Seas. In January, 1758, George wrote from Jamaica
to his friend Moses Brown in Providence. Moses
was the elder of the two by three years. He had no
small share of that business sagacity so prominent in

Portrait of Moses Brown

Reproduced from an engraving" after a drawing by
William J. Harris.

The Shipping Trade 259

his brothers, and was at this particular time inter-
ested in a "venture" to the West Indies in partner-
ship with his cousin, Jonathan Clarke, Junior, of
Newport.

George Hopkins's letter informs his friend that he
is "With Capt Hopkins in a Prize that We and Capt
Miller and Two other N. York Privateers Took the
24 December of Porte Plate." He tells with boyish
exultation of the engagement, "Wich Lasted all
Most Seven Hours," and reports the prize to be of
558 tons burden, "Mounts Eighteen Six Pounders
and Had Seventy Men, is Loaded with 3500 Barrls.
Floure 800 Ankers Brandy and a Small Quantity of
Dry Goods Bound from France to the Cape," —
namely, Cape Francois. Two months later, news is
sent of the capture of a Dutch sloop, "and Retook a
Schooner from Virginia Loaded with Pork."

The next report comes from the pen of the pugna-
cious and outspoken Abraham Whipple, well known
to Revolutionary fame, who was serving in the New-
port privateer Defiance. The Dutch sloop is sent to
Providence, together with her cargo of "Shugar and
Coffe," and here Whipple interrupts his enumeration
of nautical adventures to send his "Complements to
all the Ladys," and to announce his own determin-
ation "to Marry," on his return home. "George
Hopkins is in grate Distress About his Lady," con-
tinues Whipple; and we pause to remember that
George's obdurate "lady" must be the "Coson

2 6o ^Providence in Colonial Times

Polly" for whom letters and messages are sent to
Moses from Monte Cristo and Hispaniola. Moses's
Cousin Polly was the daughter of his Uncle Obadiah.
Although Captain Whipple gives no reasons for his
stated belief that George is "Most Damnable taken
in With her," it is evident that there was a rift some-
where within the lute, for the lady in question mar-
ried Jabez Bowen, in 1762.

George Hopkins remained single — let us say for
her sweet sake — during sixteen years. In March,
1773, he married Ruth Smith, a daughter of his
father's second wife by her first husband, Benjamin
Smith. Hopkins continued a sea-captain in the serv-
ice of the Browns until his tragic death, in 1775.
His vessel touched at Charleston on her way home
from Surinam, in August, 1775, and was never heard
from after leaving that port. In the light of these
events, a pathetic interest is attached to the letter
sent by the aged Governor Hopkins, while in Phila-
delphia as a delgate to the Continental Congress of
1775, to his son George's wife, in Providence. He
wrote : —

Beloved Ruth,

I . . . gave you an account of our journey hither.
Since then I have had an ill turn . . . but am now
well. Your mother has not been well for several days
and is now quite poorly. I hope she will soon be better.
George, I expect to have seen here but believe he has
gone to South Carolina. ... I can give no guess yet
when we shall leave this place, certainly not very soon,

The Shipping Trade 2 6 1

unless we adjourn to the Northward. . . . Give my
love to all parts of the family, and respects to all who
may ask after me. Should be glad to hear from you,
and remain your

Affectionate Father

Stephen Hopkins.

Many a sad moment must have been given to the
futile wish that George had gone to Philadelphia as
expected ; and the weary question of a possible safe
return from the South Carolina port must have often
risen to the lips of the anxious watchers in Provi-
dence. When, ten years later, the Governor died,
old in years and honors, he left to Ruth Hopkins,
"widow of my son George Hopkins, One Thousand
Dollars in Silver, being Money which belonged to
him and which he Ordered that she should have.'*
As for the other ardent mariner whom we met in
the West Indies, — the doughty Captain Abraham
Whipple, — we have to relate that, notwithstanding
his gallant resolutions, it was three years after record-
ing his determination to marry before he became
the husband of Sarah Hopkins, a cousin of Captain
George.

This digression in the interest of weddings and
relationships has taken us far from the "Brigatine
Providence at the West Caicos," on board which, in
the April of 1758, George was despatching a missive
to Moses Brown by the "Prizemaster of a small
Duns [Danes] Sloop Which wee Took aBout Ten
days ago which I Beleave Will be a Prize if the Devel

2 62 "Providence in Colonial Times

ant in the Judges." Evidently his Majesty's Court
of Vice-Admiralty could not be implicitly trusted
to condemn the property of neutrals. A postscript
says: "Please to Deliver the Inclosd to your Coson
Polly with safety." Can we doubt that Moses ful-
filled the request with discretion and tact?

Besides these stirring tales of war's alarms, Moses
received a letter from Cousin Jonathan Clarke,
written from the observer's rather than the warrior's
point of view, and illuminating for us certain genial
aspects of Moses' character and habits, which have
been lost to sight amid the philanthropic and didactic
enterprises of his later years. Says the candid Jona-
than, " I am among a parcel of Romish Savages, As
I may Call 'Em with safety — ... they are a Com-
pound of the greatest knavery in Life. . . . They
would think no more of Robbing a Man of his teeth
. . . Then you would to Drink a Draught of Punch
if you were Dry, or kiss a Pretty girl if you had op-
portunity. . . . This Place has been Settled About
six years [he writes from Monte Cristo] . There houses
are built of Cabage trees. They have a Church, A
Goal, Six pieces of Cannon for to Guard the Town,
wherein there is About fifty Houses. About one
Dozn Chairs in the place to sit in. They ride on Jack
Asses for the most part with a saddle made of Straw."

In May, George Hopkins writes from the "North
Side of Highspanola" to report the capture of a
"French Billinder [a two-masted vessel, distin-

The Shipping Trade 263

guished by the trapezoidal shape of the mainsail]
Who Wee Took Neare Cape Francis. We are Now
Bound to Windward," he says, " To Pass away about
Two months then I Beleave Wee Shall Come Home,
to Sheare Our Prize Money," — and this he esti-
mates at not less than ten thousand pounds sterling.
And with "Complements to your Coson Polly, and
all the Gentn. & Ladies," the letter was sealed, and
the good ship bore to windward.

In this same spring of 1758 a brother of George
Hopkins was undergoing an experience of the seamy
side of privateering. Captain Rufus Hopkins, of the
snow Desire^ the oldest of Stephen's five sons, was
taken by two French privateers as he "saild out of
the River of Surinam," with a cargo of " One Hun-
dred and Eighty Nine Hogsheads and Eight Tearses
of Mollasses Containing 19040 Gallons Net." He
and the Desire were sent to Martinique, but while
on the way thither were retaken by the Britannia
of Philadelphia, and sent as a prize to that port.
Messrs. Tench Francis and Son, the Philadelphia
correspondents of the firm of Obadiah Brown and
Company, were equal to the occasion, as appears by
their letter. They wrote : "we applyed to the Owners
of the Privateer, and informed them we intended to
claim her [the prize], and we proposed, to avoid the
extortionate Duty of 6d. Stl. p Gallon, to get the
Molasses privately on Shore and sell it, which they
came into. The Judge of the Admiralty being luckily

264 "Providence in Colonial Times

out of town, has given us a fair Opportunity to our
Scheme." The whole cargo was thus disposed of at
two shillings fourpence per gallon. The ship must
unavoidably be sold as a prize, but so far as the
cargo was concerned, Messrs Francis felt that they
had "Acted in this Affair as we would have done for
ourselves," and indeed there is no reason to doubt it.

Still another representative of the Hopkins family
was afloat in 1758, namely, Captain Christopher
Hopkins, of the privateer Prince George. He was the
son of William Hopkins, and a cousin of Stephen's
two boys whose varied fortunes have just passed in
review.

These years of the Old French War were piping
times of privateering, and recruits for this branch of
his Majesty's service were never lacking. Memories
of rich prizes brought into Newport during the Span-
ish War of the forties were fresh in the minds of all
our leading citizens. In 1745 and 1746, the lucrative
career of the privateer sloop Reprisal awakened no
little excitement in Providence. She was owned by
Henry Paget (the son-in-law of the Reverend Mr.
Checkley, of King's Church), Stephen Hopkins,
John Mawney, John Andrews, and Christopher
Lippitt, "all of Providence"; Jeremiah Lippitt and
Joseph Lippitt, of Warwick, and Eliphalet Dyer, of
Windham, Connecticut.

In 1745 she brought in a brigantine which sold at
auction for ;^I324, old tenor. In the following year

The Shipping Trade 265

the Reprisal and another vessel captured the Danish
sloop, Toung Benjamin, of forty tons burden. The
sloop was " Bermuda built," and valued at ;^2500.
Her cargo of cocoa, hides, tallow, rum, and some
;^3200 in gold pistoles, Spanish dollars, and pieces of
eight, amounted to ;^ 15,257. The owners protested in
vain that they were citizens of a neutral state (Den-
mark), and guiltless of carrying aid or comfort to the
declared enemies of the English king.

While the trade of the "private men of war" could
show so profitable a balance-sheet as this, it is hardly
strange that defenders of the British flag in the serv-
ice of his Majesty's Navy were with difficulty ob-
tained. Bitter and loud were the complaints of Brit-
ish commanders anent the inefficiency of the colonial
recruiting-service, and drastic indeed were their
remedial measures. The experience of John Brown,
number three of the "four brothers," was by no
means unique. He was on board the sloop Charming
Molly, as she made her way up the Delaware River,
one bright morning in late September, 1758, when the
occurrence took place which he records in his Journal
in these words: "at 12 Came by a 20 Gun Ship Man
of War below Ridg Island, the Man of Wars boat
Came on bord and pressed Nathl Smith Notwith-
standing all Could be Yoused to bender itt." Even
with resources such as this at command, able-bodied
seamen were so hard to get that many a warship put
out to sea short-handed. In the privateering service,

2 66 TProvidence in Colonial Times

however, the combination of possible wealth and
certain adventure and excitement proved an allure-
ment sufficiently powerful to induce almost every
young man of enterprise in the colony to ship for one
or more voyages. Not improbably Captain Whip-
ple's postponement of his long-desired wedding-day
was owing to the fact that his privateering ventures
did not allow him sufficient time ashore to complete
the necessary preparations. We read that in one year
alone (1759-60) this dauntless commander captured
twenty-three prizes.

Another interesting sea-captain, privateersman,
and merchant was Esek Hopkins, the younger
brother of Stephen, and the first commander of the
American Navy. It would be difficult to say just
when young Esek Hopkins left his father's home at
Scituate. He must have made an early start in life
surely, for in 1741 we find him already identified as
of Providence. In January of that year he received a
letter of marque as captain of the privateer sloop
Wentworth of ninety tons burden, in which capacity
he was authorized to " subdue seize & take . . . the
men of war. Ships & other Vessels . . . belonging
to the King of Spain."

In November this young privateersman of twenty-
three was back in Newport, where he went ashore
long enough to be married to Mistress Desire Bur-
rough, of that pleasant little town. The following
January saw him once more on board the Wentworthy

The Shipping Trade 267

and not improbably the tale of his prowess and the
resulting prizes would rival that of the Reprisal,
already mentioned, were it but possible to lay one's
hands upon it.

At all events, by the time the Spanish War drew to
a close, Esek Hopkins was in possession of a sum of
ready money. In 1747 he is to be found taking an
active part in the real-estate transactions of the town
of Providence. He purchased some of the Field land,
a little south of theTowne Wharf, on both sides of the
Towne Street, thus securing a warehouse lot, and
a site for a dwelling-house. In 1750 he was fairly
established, and keeping store, as is proved by his
admirably kept book of accounts, marked *' Ledger
A." On the first half-dozen leaves are entered pur-
chases by such well-known citizens of Providence
as Stephen Hopkins, Elisha Brown, George Taylor,
Daniel Jenckes, and Ephraim Bowen.

The future commodore supplied his customers
with tea, "Dammask," sugar, coffee, molasses, and
rum, of course ; sets of " House brushes," whalebone,
"mozzelin, brown Holland," bed-tick, and "floward
[flowered] Sacques," as well as spices of various
sorts, raisins, and starch. Playing-cards were in
great demand. His is the first shop where "child's
toys" find a place among the items of the bills ren-
dered. That its proprietor prospered in well-doing is
attested by the fact that before long his house on the
Towne Street was built, and in 1751 we find him

2 68 Providence in Colonial Times

paying a bill oi £()"]. 6. o for "painten my houss the
Inside." This house occupied the present site of the
Providence Institution for Savings, on South Main
Street. The business of shopkeeper was more often
than not combined with that of ship-owner in those
days of all-round men of affairs, and Esek Hopkins
added to these callings the business of maritime in-
surance. Daniel Jenckes was charged three per cent
for insuring the schooner Smithfield for five hundred
pounds. Stephen Hopkins insured the snow Two
Brothers on the same terms. Esek was himself part
owner in several vessels, and willingly received from
his customers the flour, rum, tobacco, and molasses
with which much of their indebtedness was dis-
charged, and doubtless loaded the sloop Two Sisters
therewith for many a coasting-voyage. But with the
declaration of war against the French the possibility
of rich prizes made the profits of the coasting-trade
seem pitiably small, and the old sea-captain lost no
time in procuring his letter-of-marque and getting
under way.

The declaration of war was proclaimed at Provi-
dence on August 26, 1756. On January 30, 1757,
amid loud cheers of excitement and exultation from
the townspeople, the prize snow Desire was brought
into Providence Harbor. Her cargo of dry goods,
earthenware, oil, butter, wine, salt, tar, nails, bricks,
iron, tiles, and other commodities was valued at
£78,000. One half of this went to her four princi-

Scene in a Public House in Surinam,
ABOUT 1769

After a painting by John Greenwood, reproduced in
Field's Esek Hopkins. The two figures on the further
side of the round table are Nicholas Cooke, later gov-
ernor of the colony, smoking a long pipe and engaged in
conversation with Esek Hopkins.

The Shipping Trade 269

pal owners, namely, Nicholas and John Brown, Sim-
eon Hunt, and Esek Hopkins. The remainder was
** halved down" ; that is to say, the next largest owner
received one half of it, and the remainder was again
divided in the same way. This process was con-
tinued until a thirty-second part of the cargo's value
was arrived at, and the last two stockholders divided
that equally. Each man of the crew received £zS\-
10. 10. The snow was put up at auction, and sold to
Nicholas Tillinghast and Company. Two years later,
with Esek's nephew, Rufus Hopkins, on board as
captain, she again figured in a prize-case at Phila-
delphia, and there, too, she was sold "at public
Vendue."

Scarcely had the townspeople ceased to haunt the
wharf where the prize lay, and to quote the prices
given from day to day as her cargo was bid in slowly,
when another capture appeared, and one of such
astounding richness that the Desire was well-nigh
forgotten. The snow ^even Brothers^ loaded with
coffee, sugar, and cotton, to the value of ;{^93,ooo net,
had lowered her colors to the gallant Captain Esek,
who brought her into port in the late February of
1757. Nicholas and John Brown were appointed by
Judge Lightfoot, of the Court of Vice-Admiralty at
Newport, to act as agents to unload and take charge
of the cargo, and render an account of the same.
Each man's share of this prize came to £\^^. 14. 6.
With facts such as these fresh in their minds we can

270 "Providence in Colonial Times

well understand that the naval service of Great Britain
would offer few attractions to the stalwart seamen of
Narragansett Bay. The captains and crews of the
condemned prizes were boarded among the towns-
people of Providence, or furnished with accommo-
dation at one of the inns. Two were quartered at the
inn of Luke Thurston, near the west end of the Great
Bridge. When an opportunity offered, they were
shipped home to Antigua, and their hotel-bills were
settled by the colonial treasurer, no doubt under the
item of "military disbursements."

With the cessation of hostilities in 1763 the legal-
ized pirate became once more an avowed outlaw.
Many of the colonial privateers were readily trans-
formed into normally law-abiding traders. The
qualifying adverb is, however, susceptible of a broad
interpretation, for "A little smuggling now and then
Was relished by the best of men." An especial im-
petus was given to the slave-trade as commerce once
more resumed the beaten paths of ocean traffic.
During the war the French privateers had virtually
driven all colonial vessels from the African coast.
In January, 1759, when the fortunes of the French
were at their height, Tench Francis writes from
Philadelphia to Obadiah Brown and Company that
he can place insurance on their schooner Wheel of
Fortune y William Earl, master, "to the Windward
Coast of Africa while on the Coast and back to provi-
dence," for a premium of twenty-five per cent. In

The Shipping Trade 271

the previous year (1758) the rate had been eighteen
per cent.

With peace the old conditions were restored, and
the "Guineamen" speedily became a favorite in-
vestment. Foremost among the many who hastened
to cultivate this profitable field of industry was the
firm of Nicholas Brown and Company. In the course
of a long business letter to "Collector Carter Braxton
In Virginea on Pamunkey River," written in the
early September of 1763, the prospects of the Provi-
dence firm are touched upon as follows: "You Men-
tion of being Concernd in the Guine Trade and that
the Vessels Return with the negrows to your place.
As We Shall be Largely Concernd in Navigation this
Fall wich will bring mello. in the Spring and we
Liveing in a place wair we Can procure a Large
Quantity of Rum Distilled Amediately, its Very
Likely if it's Agreeable to you to be Concerned that
we May Fitt a proper Vessill for Guiney in the
Spring."

In view of the fact that tobacco as well as rum had
proved acceptable on the slave-coast, and that the
Virginia product was justly prized in all quarters of
the globe, Nicholas then asks to be advised whether
his correspondent "Could Send a Quantity of To-
bacco Clear of Duty by our Vessill, if it Comes to
your Address this Winter, and at what price"; —
whereby we may note, in passing, the advantage of
dealing directly with the Collector, for if there were

272 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

ways and means to evade the export tax, we may rest
assured that the intelligent Braxton was not the man
to be caught napping on so important an official
detail.

No record has thus far appeared of any ship sailing
to *'Guiney" on account and risk of the Brothers
Brown, in the spring of 1764. But in the fall of that
year, the senior member of the firm wrote from his
Providence counting-house to his brothers, John and
Moses, then at Newport, where that good seaman,
Esek Hopkins, was busily engaged in fitting out the
brig ^ally for a voyage to the African coast. His
letter — at once shrewd, cautious, diplomatic, and
with a keen appreciation for detail — is so charac-
teristic of the writer that it is worth quoting at some
length.

Providence Sepr. 12, 1764.
Messrs. Jos. Jno. & M. Brown

Gentl.

. . . Jno. Jenckes asks 6/ for his Tobacco perhaps it
might be got of the Judge at less [Jonathan was the
writer's brother-in-law and the son of the Judge], tho'
making him an Offer while at Newport may put him in
Mind of selling it in Newport where it's much wanted
for the Guineamen. . . . Inquire of Malbone whither
there Brigg Carled Any Qy. Onions — if they did not
it may be worth while to get 100 bshl. more at Bristol.
... I beleave that if a Stroke was put In the Newport
paper Truly giveing a State of the Rum Trade upon
the Coast of Guinea It may prevent Menny Vessels
from Pushing that way this fall, this Is a Subject
worth our Attention, a Small matter as 2 dols. will get

The Shipping Trade 273

it from the Newport into the Boston & York Papers,
or Phila.

NicH. Brown

This was in September. With the middle of the
following May came news of Captain Hopkins's
whereabouts. He was "up the River gamby," and
reported " all well on bord." A month later, however,
Benjamin Mason, of Newport, an old correspondent
of the Browns, wrote them of news just brought by
a ship's captain who was "at Basue and saw Cap
Hopkins about the begining of march." This har-
binger of woe announced that "Hopkins had Lost all
his hands & had sent a Craft to the Goviner of Gam-
bia for Assistance he had about 40 Slaves," to which
statement the Newport letter-writer added a word of
commentary: "Basue is a portugese place," he ex-
plained, "and they are not AUowd to go on shore or
on board each others Vessels without paying a Great
Custom, wch I suppose the Reason hopkins did not
right [write]."

The Newport firm of Joseph and William Wanton,
whose social, political, and commercial relations with
the Browns were close and constant, wrote at once to
offer sympathy and such consolation as the nature of
the case might admit: "We heartily Condole with
you on the bad News from Hopkins, had he pro-
ceeded down to Anamaboe it would have been no
better with Regard to Trade, there was the 26th
April 17 Sail there of Europeans &Rum men, & the

2 74 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

latter could not get a Slave at any Price. 750 Hhds.
Rum in the Road & the Castle [i.e., trading-station]
full besides." From which facts it would seem that
the newspaper item contemplated by Nicholas had
not materially affected the volume of business.

It appears that Rumor viewed Captain Hopkins's
brig with magnifying-glasses of abnormal power;
when direct news of the ship and cargo reached her
owners, they in turn wrote to our old friend. Captain
Abraham Whipple, then at Surinam; "Capt. Esek
Hopkins wass in the River Gambe the 17th May
with 75 Slaves on bord. he had been Very well him
Self had Lost one Man & Three Others Sick, the
Rest all well, had Sufferd greatly in Leakage of his
Cargo haveing upwards of 20 hhd. Rum Out, he
wrote he wass in hopes of Sailing off the Coast in 2
or 3 Months." This letter was written in the last days
of July, when news of the brig might be looked for at
any time. Her arrival at Antigua concluded the tale
of bad luck. Many negroes were lost on the passage,
and such as reached that port were sold at low prices
in a dull and heavy market.

In this instance, as in that of the sloop sent to
Africa in 1736, we are led to the conclusion that the
profits of the venture were disappointing. At the
time of the voyage of 1736, the slave-trade was con-
ducted without system or method. There were as yet
no trading-stations at which a cargo might be se-
cured, and regular communication with the interior

The Shipping Trade 275

maintained. The voyage to the African coast was
made in from six to ten weeks, but there was no as-
surance that slaves could be secured at once, and a
tedious stay of months to await a cargo was entirely
subversive of that "dispatch," on which our pioneer
merchant so strenuously insisted.

James Brown found a more satisfactory profit in
his West-India molasses and his New-England rum.
He drew on Massachusetts and Connecticut as well
as Rhode Island for his cargoes of provisions and
lumber. "Fat cattle" were driven down to the head
of Narragansett Bay from Worcester and Uxbridge,
and from the Connecticut towns of Plainfield, Kil-
lingly, and Pomfret. Boards, shingles, staves, and
hoops were collected from Taunton and Greenwich.
Butter was brought in from the back country, and
from Newport. The farmers from Warwick fur-
nished tobacco, while those at Pawtuxet brought
beef packed in the barrel. Hemp was obtained from
his more immediate neighbors. Candles, too, were
home-made. Horses were picked up whenever a
good opportunity offered at prices varying from ten
to twenty gallons of rum. They were an essential
factor in the trade to the Dutch West-Indian colonies,
for that profitable market was opened to the English
on the explicit condition that they should bring down
horses for the use of the Dutch sugar-planters. Many
a tight little sloop, laden with a judicious assortment
of horses, candles, dried fish, cheese, and lumber,

276 "Providence in Colonial Times

made three or four trips a year to the *' Weste Indes."
Later, onions and oysters were added to the list of
standard articles.

As we follow the mercantile career of Obadiah
Brown, and of his nephews the "four brothers," it
becomes apparent that their interest in the slave-
trade was a minor factor in the extension of their
prosperity. It is true that they sent the schooner
Wheel of Fortune to the windward coast of Africa, in
March, 1759, when insurance was at twenty-five per
cent premium, — a fact which would argue well for
the proportion of profit expected. When, however,
after the treaty of peace with France, Hopkins took
the Sally out to the Guinea Coast, he found there
precisely the same conditions that had hampered
Obadiah Brown thirty years earlier. We can hardly
doubt that his voyage was a disappointment to his
owners.

There were certain reasons, too, why the Brothers
Brown were peculiarly well contented with their
business enterprises close at hand. Already their
"Sperma Ceti Works" atTockwotton had gained an
enviable reputation, and their candles were shipped
far and wide, in ever-increasing quantities. In 1765,
Hope Furnace was put in operation, and only three
years later the firm of Nicholas Brown and Company
was sending pots, kettles, and ash-pans to Nan-
tucket, New York, Norwich, and other coast towns,
and even to Dominica and Tobago. It seems evident

The Shipping Trade 277

that their busy distilleries supplied the "Guinea-
men" of their old friends the Wantons, and other
Newport merchants, and that their own shipments
consisted ever more largely of those local manu-
factures whose excellence soon secured for them a
wide market, and whose output was controlled by the
Brothers Brown and their family connections.

Chapter VIII

THE COLONIAL TOWN OF PROVIDENCE

AMONG the throngs that cross Red Bridge
to-day, from the procession of milk-wagons
entering the city in the early morning to
the groups of golfers whose faces are turned town-
ward at dusk, there are few who do not linger for
a moment's glance up the stream of the Seekonk.
Gently curving banks lined with trees are near at
hand. On the left, picturesque tree-tops stand clearly
defined against the sky. On the right, just at the turn
of the river, a group of unsightly factories offends the
eye, softened, it is true, by the enchantment of dis-
tance, yet serving to remind us anew that, save for
the works of man, "every prospect pleases." Close
to these tall, smoke-blackened chimneys, amid sur-
roundings sadly at variance with its winding course
through meadow and woodland, the gay little Ten-
Mile River enters the broad Seekonk.

The Ten-Mile River is known and loved by us of
the present day for its picturesque and shaded wind-
ings, and its apparent remoteness from the rush and
turmoil of the workaday existence in the busy city
across the Seekonk. Our forefathers, some two hun-
dred years ago, saw the Ten-Mile from quite a dif-
ferent point of view. They came through Ferry

The Colonial Town 279

Lane, and crossed at the Narrow Passage for the
very utilitarian purpose of visiting the stores and
wharves which then lined Walker's Point, at the
mouth of the little stream. There supplies were pur-
chased in greater variety and at less cost than from
the travelling peddler, or the master of a tramp sloop,
whose intermittent visitations were but a poor de-
pendence for the necessaries of life. This outlying
settlement of the prosperous town of Rehoboth long
served as a base of supply for the farmers of Attle-
borough and Pawtucket, as well as for the more
immediate neighbors at Providence.

With the middle of the eighteenth century there
came a more comfortable state of things at home.
Had we entered Providence by way of the ferry at
the Narrow Passage some ten years later still, — let
us say in 1759, or 1760, — and made our way thence
to that centre of the town's activity, the Towne
Wharf and the adjacent Parade, we should have
found more than one occasion to linger for comment
on recent changes and improvements.

At the extreme northern end of that well-worn
thoroughfare, the Towne Street, our interest and
admiration must have been excited by the imposing
structure, known then as now, as " Elisha Brown's
brick house." Elisha Brown was the youngest
brother of the forceful Captain James. In some
respects he is a pathetically interesting figure in the
town's history. When in his prime, he seems to have

2 8o "Providence in Colonial Times

been the most active man in Providence, though far
from being ukimately the most successful. Promi-
nent both as man of business and as politician, he
attained a high position in each capacity. From 1765
to 1767 he served as deputy governor of the colony.
He bought and sold lands, houses, merchandise,
cattle, and slaves : built grist-mills, ran the town corn-
mill, and also the town poorhouse. One of his more
permanent undertakings was the construction of the
brick house, which still bears his name, at the North
End of the Towne Street. It was built about the year
1759. The original dimensions were seventy-two by
twenty-eight feet, and it was no less than four stories
in height. One half of this ambitious structure is still
standing, and is to-day, even as it was one hundred
and fifty years ago, an object of interest to both old
and young. Governor Brown's mansion-house was
also on the Towne Street, a little north of Olney's
Lane.

In the tax-list of 1759 for the assessment of a rate
to pay for the fire-engine, Elisha Brown occupies the
proud position of the town's largest taxpayer owning
perishable property in the compact part of the town,
subject to loss by fire. Owing to the fact that his wife
inherited the town-mill from her cousin, Charles
Smith, Elisha Brown became town-miller. He was
responsible for keeping the mill in good condition,
and was allowed to exact as toll for his services
**the fourteenth Part of the Indian corn ground;

Deputy-Governor Elisha Brown House

North Main Street, north of OIney Street. Built about
I7S9j the first brick house in the compact part of the
town of Providence. From a photograph taken in 1865,
now in the Rhode Island Historical Society.

ty. From i]\ ^

.lii'iitl' ■/ //UHtl. / I1-,1,1J1 iH<y.>i:H-

od con
he Inciiaii corn grouutl

The Colonial Town 2 8 1

the Sixteenth of Rye, and the Eighteenth Part of
Wheat."

It was the Governor's political responsibilities that
proved too heavy a load. During the long Ward-
Hopkins controversy, electioneering was conducted
with far greater regard for the end attained than
for the means employed. The free and independent
voter found himself elevated to a position of com-
manding influence, and able to drive a correspond-
ingly good bargain as the price of his attendance at
the poll. When the traders of Providence determined
to make their voice heard in the political councils of
the colony, they met with an equally determined re-
sistance. The merchants of Newport and the planters
of South County were not men to relinquish their
political supremacy without a struggle. When, in
1755, after a long and bitter contest, Stephen Hop-
kins was elected governor, the political veterans bent
themselves anew to the effort to subdue once for all
this intrusive upstart from the rival town on the Mo-
shassuc. Two years of storm and stress brought a
Newport candidate — Samuel Ward, of Westerly —
once more to the governor's chair.

The unrestrained violence of the campaign rhetoric
employed on this occasion led Stephen Hopkins to
consider himself justified in bringing suit for defama-
tion of character against the successful candidate. So
unhesitatingly was the question of libel prejudged
throughout the colony of Rhode Island that, in the

2 82 ^Providence in Colonial Times

interests of fair play, the case was brought before a
Massachusetts court. Ward was acquitted of the
charge of "false and scandalous libel." The case was
promptly appealed, but was put off from term to
term on one pretext or another until the September of
1759, when the long-suffering judges refused to post-
pone further the course of justice. Hopkins there-
upon withdrew his suit, having gained naught save
the obligation of paying the costs, and the privilege
of seeing himself, as his political opponents saw him,
in the numerous and scathing broadsides issued by
Ward and his supporters.

From 1757 to 1768, when both Hopkins and Ward
publicly withdrew their names as candidates for the
office of governor, the political battle raged un-
checked. In the true spirit of an age when the home
government found no argument so convincing as
that of place or pension, the long-headed Englishmen
of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation brought
practical business methods to bear on their reading of
the signs of the times. It was not from purely philan-
thropic motives that seventeen of the best-known and
most highly respected citizens of Providence signed a
" Promise to pay the Sums we here Severaly freely
Set to our names in Such Articles as may be the most
UsefuU in procuring the free Votes of the poorer Sort
of Freemen in this County . . . and more particu-
larly them Who's Surcumstances does not admit their
Time, to the Injury of their Familys." Forty-four

Broadside- Lampoon

Issued by the Hopkins party in 1763 against Samuel
Ward and Gideon Wanton. From a copy of the broad-
side in the Rhode Island Historical Society. Reduced to
about half size.

j>ii

-bi

The;- Fall oi Samuel xht Squomicutitey and the
Overthrow of the Sons of Gideon,

•*^-4-*J»>OW Solmm the Son of Selmaii flcpt with his Fatheri, and w*» buried
-^9 9 fjj> jj, ,jj^ Tomb of SflomoH hU Father, and Stlemon hi» Son reigned in
X%-^X^ his Stead,

•6 cs-> ^1^ In thofc Days there was Contention in the Land of the PlmtJamltt,
-r^f ?-*-?-•• between Siephn the Choppenu/kittj and 5tf»»«W the SqucmcMlUt.r-'
And the Inhabitants of Tropnen fcni MelTage to ^<?/»«^/ the Sqtumicu/i/e, fiiying $
We will give our Daughters unto thy Sons, and uke thy Sons for our Daughter*,
wc will become as one People, and teht thy Battle againft Stephen the Cboffomjkite,
' if thou will come and dwell in the Land of Tropweti.

And Samuel being a weak Man, hearkened unto the People of TrMwen, and
came and dwelt among them, at different Times, for the Space of three whole
Weeks.

And Samuel made Aflininr with Gde<m and his Sons. ^Now the Son* of

CidetH, arc Blttnderbufsy Nimjoi, Tefiy^ and Stubborn^ all mighty Men of Valor,— —

And Samuel laid unto the Sons of Cideou, if you will hear my Voice, and hearken
unto my Words, ye (hall be great Men in the Land.

Blunderbufs fliiall ride on a large grey Mare, with a Sword by his Side, and %
whire Wand in his Hand, and Hull execute Judgment in the Land.

Nim/bi fhall be firft Ruler in Trtfwm, with a Staff made of Hickory Wood
fljall he walk up and down in the Streets o( 7r(fwen, before the People,

Unto ^ejly will I give my CoipmifTion, uj overfce the Merchants and Traders ia
the Land, that their Ships (ba^ n^t go ib.'Jh nor come again, uolcfs they pay Tri^
bute onto him. ;,.

Siubborn your younger Brother, ye ftwlit Kcnd" forth with my Meflaget and mjr
Cettnpahds, and in due Time, I will exijt him, and make him a great Man ia
^ropvien.

The Sons of GiJeon, loving the Mammon of Unrighteoufnefs, hearkened unttt
the Words of Samul, and they all arofe fuiioufly on the Morrow.

And they ran unto the Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water, and to thole
that ufc the Spade and Pick-axe -, faying, — Satiuul the Spumiculite, wages War
againit Stephen the Choppomifiile ; and if ye aflift not Samuel, we will turn ye from
your Dwellings, and witbold Food and Raiment from your ChiUien, that they
/hall die in the Streets.

And thus did the Sons ofGukan, ride on Horfes and in Chariots, to and fro,
up and down, in the Streets of Tropwen, exclaiming againft Stephen, and opprelCng
the Inhabitants of Tropwen, for the Space of three wnDlc Months.

Samuel made alio a League with the Buyers and Sellers, and Money-changers,
that if they woukl deftroy Stephen, Root and Branch, he woukl give unto them the
Pofiellions of the Poor throughout all the Land of the Pumiimtes.

Now the ^akeiitet, Choppomijkites, and hiarraganfetites, liked not the Doings rf
Samuel and the Sons of Gideon, and diiey fet tke Battle in Array againll SamuQaxA
they fmote him Hip and Thigh, fo that the Killed and Wounded (^ that Day, were
difperfcd throughout all the Land of the Pumkimtes, from the Land of the V\Sbie>-
men, Eaftward, until thou comeft to the great River Paukituci, Wcflward.

And tbjc Battle went fore againft the Sons of GiJeen, fcveral of them were flain,
and thofe that remain, were fore affrighted, fb that they lopk like fierce AfricoM
bcfmeared with Afhes in a cold frofty Morning.

Now the ASs of the Government cA Samud, are neither recorded in the Book
of Samuel, nor in the A^ of the Kings, for ic tiA uvcu, butcUd Nothwo,

Made puWic at fropwoh « a Merowial of tbc Deliverance rf th« ?miimf»,

The Colonial Town 283

hundred pounds was the aggregate amount thus
freely given for such articles as might be useful to the
"poorer Sort of Freemen."

As time went on, sectional jealousy was almost lost
sight of in the intense personal animosity engendered
by the strife. It was no longer merchant against
farmer, or Providence threatening to rival Newport.
It became Hopkins against Ward. Factions appeared
in towns throughout the colony, and families were
divided by all the bitterness of party rancor. In
Providence the Brothers Brown were among Stephen
Hopkins's stanchest supporters. Their social and
business connections were close and constant. Nich-
olas Brown and Stephen Hopkins had married cou-
sins. Their business interests were in many respects
identical, and their political views were ever sympa-
thetic. Among their fellow-townsmen the opinions
and support of the Browns and their allies carried no
little weight.

Greatly to the annoyance of his four rising young
nephews, "Uncle Elisha" was found among the
leaders of the opposition. He appears to have taken
up the cause of Ward with a zeal which probably
owed some of its enthusiasm to his own position as a
candidate for the office of deputy governor. A fav-
orite centre for political news was the tavern owned
by Elisha Brown. It was on the Towne Street, not
far from the well-known "Turpin's," and was with-
out doubt a potent factor in the promotion of political

284 "Providence in Colonial Times

enthusiasm. From its hospitable roof-tree many a
delegation set forth to carry conviction to the freemen
in the debatable ground of Scituate, Cumberland,
and Glocester.

The Hopkins contingent marshalled their forces
with equal celerity. In the campaign of 1765, John
Brown wrote Joseph Wanton, Junior, "We Shall
have a hard Battle at Glocester, their wos Not Less
than forty Men in town Yesterday, Freemen be-
longing there by Whose Return was Carried Rum
Anough for a Small Guine Cargo, with Severil other
Nessessarys, & Brother Moses & Jabez [Bowen] Sat
off for that Town Yesterday." Wanton, although a
Newport man, was among the most zealous of Hop-
kins's supporters, and served several terms as deputy
governor, to the satisfaction of his party and him-
self. In spite of unwearying efforts in behalf of " the
poorer sort of Freemen," Ward and Brown were the
winning candidates in 1765, and again in 1766.

Elisha Brown's political career terminated with his
second term of office. Although gratifying, it was
costly, and the inroads made upon his estate during
the vicissitudes of the campaign were such as it
proved impossible to recover from. The business
reverses of the next few years cast the heavy shadow
of poverty over the latter part of the deputy gov-
ernor's long and varied career. His petition to the
Assembly, in 1770, praying for relief under the Insol-
vent Debtors' Act of 1756, tells in simple and con-

The Colonial Town 285

vincing words a truly heart-rending tale of accum-
ulated misfortunes. He had "within the Space of
about five Years lost full three Quarters of five Sail of
Vessels/' amounting to six hundred and twelve tons,
"with three Quarters of their Cargoes." Only three
of his merchantmen came safe to port during that
time, and their voyages were so unprofitable that his
losses amounted to ;^87,200, old tenor. Within the
same time, four valuable negro servants died. "Also
within the same Time one of his Mill Dams was
carried away by a Flood, and one Mill almost over-
set," the damage amounting to ;^i98o, old tenor.
"Divers Bankruptcies in the Colony" had involved
him to the extent of ;^3872, old tenor. "Sickness and
Death hath been in his Family, and besides his
Affliction and Distress of Mind, he hath thereby
sustained great & heavy charges."

The unfortunate man was surely justified in de-
scribing his condition as "very hard and grievous."
He says that he had "used his utmost Prudence &
Diligence to Obtain a decent Living for himself, and
to bring up and settle his Family in the World." He
has dealt "fairly and uprightly with all Men," and
"makes no doubt" that his neighbors will testify to
his " Diligence in Business, Fairness in Trade, and
most active Endeavours to settle his Affairs." Since,
as matters now stand, he "is subject to immediate
Imprisonment" for debt, he "knows not of any
better Way than to apply to the Assembly for Re-

2 86 Trovidence in Colonial Times

lief." The so-called relief was granted. The rem-
nants of the poor man's estate were duly inventoried,
and sold at public vendue for the benefit of his cred-
itors. Silver spoons, household stuff, and farm im-
plements went under the hammer, as well as his
three dwelling-houses in Providence, and his farm
in North Providence.

While the politicians raged, and "the poorer sort
of Freemen" gathered up such crumbs of comfort as
were thoughtfully dispensed by their well-wishers,
the average well-to-do farmer found the humdrum
tenor of his way rudely disturbed by the prevalent
excitement and unrest. The exploitation of Provi-
dence for the benefit of Newport was the agitating
theme upon which were played many skilfully mod-
ulated variations. As the years went by, and cam-
paigns waxed and waned, a suspicion dawned on the
minds of the freemen of the back country that they in
turn were exploited, greatly to the advantage of the
merchants and shopkeepers on the Towne Street.
The suspicion became conviction, and in the eventful
year 1765, public opinion was moved to action. The
state of the case was called to the attention of the
General Assembly by a petition drawn up by those
who dwelt "in the remote parts of the Township."
The petitioners describe themselves as "near all
Farmers whose Interest & Business are often times
different from the Interests of the Merchants &
Tradesmen in the Compact part of the Town." They

The Colonial Town 287

complain that town-meetings are called with un-
necessary frequency, — "no less than seven last Fall
in three Months time" (as a matter of fact, four are
recorded), — and that the matters under consider-
ation do not concern the farmers, "who nevertheless
were then & still are obliged to leave their Business
... to prevent any thing being Voted to their Dis-
advantage, which occasions much Loss of Time,
great Uselessness Contention and Expense which
ought to be born by the Merchants & Tradesmen in
the Compact Part only." The remedy suggested
savored strongly of the "root-and-branch" policy.
Let the town be divided, said the malcontents ; set us
apart from these "merchants and traders," and leave
them full liberty to manage their own town-meetings,
vote their own improvements, and pay their own
taxes.

The demand was not without precedent. Since
1722 the town "twenty miles square" of which good
Doctor Humphreys wrote, had undergone a series of
diminutions. In 1731 an act was passed for "incor-
porating the out-lands of the town of Providence into
three towns," namely, Smithfield, Scituate, and
Glocester, and the improvement was formally de-
clared to be " of great ease and benefit to the inhab-
itants ... in transacting and negotiating the pru-
dential affairs of their town, which for some time
past, has been very heavy and burdensome." Some
twenty years later, the settlers in the southwest part

2 88 "Providence in Colonial Times

of the township obtained permission to become a
legalized corporation under the name of Cranston.
So recently as the year 1759, Johnston had entered
upon a separate existence, to the west of the parent
settlement.

Again, in 1765, the Assembly saw cause to grant
the petition quoted, notwithstanding the protests
entered on the part of "the Ancient Town of Provi-
dence," to the effect that the division had been "in-
stigated and Set on by Crafty and designing Men
... to Serve the Interested Views and Sinister pur-
poses of Such instigation." Thus the town of North
Providence came into being, in full possession of
the usual rights and privileges, under the beneficent
dispensation of Governor Ward and Deputy-Gov-
ernor Elisha Brown. Its triumphal career was brief.
Two years later the rival party came into power, and
within a month of the investiture of Stephen Hopkins
with such honors as pertained to the colony's chief
executive, we find " divers Freemen of the Town of
North Providence" representing that by "the late
division of the Town of Providence . . . the greatest
part of the Inhabitants . . . taken off" were mer-
chants and tradesmen, and that " remaining in their
present separated State, is greatly to their Disad-
vantage." The Assembly is, therefore, prayed to
reunite to the town of Providence such portion of the
town of North Providence as is "commonly called
the compact part." The petition was promptly

The Colonial Town 289

granted. As a matter of fact, the divisionists were
so eager to interpose effective obstacles in the way of
the "Crafty and designing Men" of the Town Pa-
rade combination that they overreached themselves.
Their division line cut the town at the present Orms
Street, and went east to the Seekonk byway of Olney
Street. The remedy proved worse than the disease,
and the inevitable readjustment two years later
moved the line north to Herrenden Lane, at about
the middle of the North Burial Ground.

Even now the ravages of the division epidemic
were not stayed. In February, 1770, there was a
violent outbreak " in that Part of the Town of Provi-
dence, which lieth on the west side of Weybosset
Bridge." The diagnosis of the case is given in a peti-
tion of great interest for its graphic account of the
West Side and the conditions of life there. The num-
ber of inhabitants is estimated at twelve hundred,
"among whom are at least one Hundred Freemen, —
altho it is but a few Years since building Houses took
Place there." The people are described as " Trades-
men chiefly . . . [who] by Diligence and Industry
. . . surmounted many Diflficulties to effect a Settle-
ment. They levilled several Hills which stood in
their Way, filled up sunken and low Places, laid out
and made divers commodious Streets and Lanes
. . . and have Reason to hope, that with a Blessing
on their future Industry, they will in a few Years
become Very Populous." The uneven shore-line,

290 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

with its long stretches of shoal water, offered small
inducement for the settlement of the ship-owners and
"merchants," — a term used here to designate the
East Side magnates, — but as in course of time the
East Side filled up, those who pursued "mechanic
Business and Manufactures ... sat down on the
Point (called Weybosset), which altho it was in the
jurisdiction of the Town, was not considered as
belonging to the compact Settlement."

Furthermore, it is alleged that "Nature herself
hath interposed, and divided them from the old Set-
tlement by an Arm of the Sea . . . [and] Besides
this Detachment . . . the Interests, Views, and
Occupations of the Inhabitants on either Side of the
Water, and their Modes of getting a Living are so
distinct and different, that an united Force of the
whole for the public Service, can never be expected."
And here the petitioners, in sorrow rather than in
anger, " beg leave to remark that they have in many
Instances been aggrieved by their powerful Neigh-
bours in the Other side of the Bridge, the Particulars
whereof they forbear to mention from a Tenderness
to them, and Love of that Union and Harmony which
ought to be kept up in any Community." Neverthe-
less, all past injuries shall be overlooked, and past
contentions buried in oblivion, if only "all that part
of the Town of Providence lying westward of Wey-
bosset Bridge, and the Harbour or Bay, may be in-
corporated into a Town, to be called and Known by

The Colonial Town 291

the Name of Westminster, or such other Name as
the Assembly shall think fit." " Weybosset" was the
name first selected for the new civic entity, but for
some unknown reason, the word was carefully
erased, and "Westminster" written in its stead. It
seems probable that Weybosset Neck, Weybosset
Point, Weybosset River, and Weybosset Bridge gave
ample opportunity for confusion of terms without
adding to the collection a town of Weybosset.

The petition appears to have represented a real
grievance, for among its signatures are a goodly
number whose owners were men of substance and
position. On the other hand, some names are con-
spicuous by their absence. One of the best-known
and most prosperous of the West-Siders was Jacob
Whitman, a shopkeeper at the present Turk's Head,
where Weybosset Street diverges from Westminster.
Mr. Whitman was a man of sufficient prominence to
be known and appreciated by the East-Side "mer-
chants and traders." He had already served a year
or two on the Town Council, where West-Side names
were few and far between. Whether his experience
during his term of office influenced his views respect-
ing a town to be called Westminster, we cannot
venture to say. At all events, he did not sign the
petition just quoted. This document was read " in
full town-meeting," and the dissenting voices were
sufficiently numerous to " Resolve that the Deputies
of this Town oppose to the Uttermost of their Power,

292 Providence in Colonial Times

the Division of the Town . . . and that no Person
shall be Elected as a Deputy . . . untill he shall
Subscribe to the above Resolve." No doubt the next
few months were successfully devoted to enlightening
public opinion, for when the obnoxious document
came up for consideration in the September session
of the Assembly, it was dismissed for the reason that
the petitioners "being solemnly calld to come in and
enforce this Petition did not appear."

Jacob Whitman's memory is still kept green for all
old residents, even as it is unconsciously perpetuated
by all newcomers, in the name given to the corner
where his ancient landmark, the veritable " Turk's
Head," so long grimaced and frowned at the pas-
serby. Originally the figurehead of the ship Sultan,
whose ironwork was long supplied and renewed by
Jacob Whitman, this turbaned representative of the
Orient served Whitman many a year in the humble
capacity of sign-post. An indefatigable investigator
of problems in local history has advanced the opinion
that it was not the old and original "Turk's Head,"
or "Sultan's Head" which was swept away in the
great gale of 1815, and carried among other debris
down the river, but probably a later and more
grotesque street-sign, the product of local talent
exerted rather to caricature than to reproduce the
Sultans figurehead. After the waters of destruction
had subsided, the "Turk's Head" was recovered,

The Colonial Town 293

taken to Alabama, and once more set up in business
before the shop of Jacob's grandson.

Jacob was himself a Massachusetts man. He came
to Providence shortly after 1740, and established
himself and his blacksmith's shop in the southern
part of the town, near the Tillinghast neighborhood.
In the course of four or five years he bought a "small
lot" on the west side of Great Bridge, at the corner
where incomers and outgoers might conveniently
pause to repair a loosened horseshoe, or tighten a
shaky tire. Settlers in the immediate vicinity were
not numerous, but the "Snow Neighborhood" was
just starting on its prosperous career, and there was a
new shipyard close at hand, where Roger Kinnicutt
(also of Massachusetts) was conducting a thriving
business. Whitman made a specialty of furnishing
ironwork for ships, and in this line he filled orders
for firms so far afield as Boston, Lynn, and Salem.
His "small lot" was extended by later purchases, a
shop was added to the business of the smithy, a
mansion-house appeared, and eventually Whitman's
Block and Whitman's Corner became as universally
well known as Great Bridge. An interesting item in
connection with his shopkeeping is his imports from
the famous shoemakers of Lynn. He received in
return for his ironwork "Shoos Stampt" and "not
Stampt," "Shoos Gloshees," "Clog-gloshees," and
clogs pure and simple. The latter cost six shillings a
pair.

2 94 ^Providence in Colonial Times

Whitman's ledger gives ample evidence of business
relations with the East-Side merchants, and of his
own interests in the shipping-trade. He lived until
1802, and of his thirteen children only one survived
him. This, his son Jacob made an interesting career
for himself as watchmaker, ship-owner, and auction-
eer. He it was who built the large brick block at
Turk's Head, part of which is still standing. His
somewhat checkered career may be followed in the
newspaper issues of a later generation. The elder
Jacob was not a man to seek his patrons through the
medium of newspaper advertisements. That means
of drawing trade was the resource of dealers whose
sympathies were perhaps less perfectly in accord
with the Brown-Hopkins-Jencks-Bowen combination
of the East Side, by which local industries were
directed with so much sagacity and penetration.

Among those shopkeepers who did appear in the
advertising columns of the Providence Gazette and
Country Journal Containing the freshest Advices^ both
Foreign and Domestic, was Samuel Nightingale,
Junior, a prominent West-Sider and a highly re-
spectable man, both prosperous and progressive.
Samuel Nightingale, Senior, came to Providence
from Pomfret. He was born in Braintree, of that
good old New-England stock by whom wisdom was
prized above riches. The boy's inheritance of this
world's dross was left him on condition that his col-
lege expenses at Harvard should be defrayed from

The Colonial Town 295

his share of the estate. He graduated in 1734, and
straightway became a preacher in the Congrega-
tional church. His budding talents were not given
sufficient time to prove themselves entitled to culti-
vation, for the young divine's health was not equal to
the arduous task he had undertaken. He went from
Braintree to Pomfret, and in 1751 moved again, this
time to Providence, where his sympathies were
naturally enlisted in behalf of the struggling little
flock who had tried in vain to rally around the
standard of Josiah Cotton, and were thankfully
accepting the ministrations of John Bass.

Nightingale betook himself to the West Side of the
Great River, purchased a house and lot of Joseph
Snow, of real-estate fame, and not only settled down
in close proximity to the obnoxious "New Lights"
and their still more objectionable pastor, but induced
that same open-minded pastor and his father, as well
as the officiating clergyman of the opposition church
on the "Hill," to join him in a business venture
already alluded to in these pages, — the Concord
Distil-House. This tour de force was crowned with
success from the start. No one knew better than
Samuel Nightingale how to distinguish between
things temporal and things spiritual. Each Sabbath
morning found him shaking the dust of the Snow
Neighborhood from his polished shoes with their
shining silver buckles as he wended his way with
Mistress Nightingale on his arm, and from three to

296 ^Providence in Colonial Times

seven children in attendance, eastward over Wey-
bosset Bridge and up Presbyterian Lane to the little
meeting-house where the faith of his fathers was
logically and theologically expounded by the Rever-
end John Bass.

*' The Distil House Concord" — as it is termed in
contemporary deeds — soon became, under Night-
ingale's astute management, one of the most flourish-
ing business enterprises in the town. Four years
after the business was started, Nightingale bought
out Snow's interest, and a little later purchased that
of the Reverend John Bass, thus becoming proprietor
of three quarters of the property. Almost immedi-
ately the scope of the business was enlarged. Sloops
were sent more frequently to the West Indies and
Surinam for supplies of molasses. Customers from
Newport appeared. Benjamin Mason got many a
*' Guine cask" filled at the Distil House Concord, as
also did the notorious Simeon Potter, pirate, priva-
teersman, and pillar of St. Michael's Church at
Bristol. Simeon Potter was a man not of action only,
but of an uncompromising directness of speech.
When business transactions were not to his mind his
expression of disapproval was not restrained by the
customary formalities of an eighteenth-century busi-
ness letter. He writes to his agent in Providence : " I
have been Imposed upon by Messrs. Nightingale &
Sweeting in a Cruel Manner in a quantity of Rum
they Sent me. It will bear no more bead than worter

The Colonial Town 297

& thay Refuse making it up — . . . thay Pretend
the Rum was proof when thay Delivered it Which
must be absolutly Forlse."

When young Sam Nightingale, Junior, grew to
manhood and developed business abilities highly
creditable to his father's training, his tastes led him
to engage in a different field of action. In 1762 he
bought out Joseph Bennett, whose shop was situated
on the West Side, in the Snow Neighborhood, about
where Grace Church stands now. His father's back-
ing obtained for him a profitable connection with
certain Boston firms, who were nothing loth to extend
their sphere of influence Rhode-Islandward. Nor did
honest merit toil in vain. After four years of experi-
ence and profit on the West Side, sufficiently near the
homestead to admit of a judicious parental oversight,
young Sam aspired to take his place among the
"merchants and traders" across the river. A new
shop was built, and that on a scale demanding one
hundred and fifty-two panes of seven by nine glass,
four hundred feet of clapboards, and six hundred and
thirty-five shingles; and also seven gallons of rum, —
this last item judiciously distributed "to the men"
by the quart, pint, half-pint, and gill, as the work
progressed.

On October 11, 1766, Samuel Nightingale, Junior,
was in a position to offer to the Providence public "a
large assortment of English, India, and West-India
Goods, at his new shop just above the Great Bridge."

298 "Providence in Colonial Times

A list of the goods follows, and is all-embracing in the
variety set forth, from crimson satins and chip hats,
on the one hand, to gimlets, logwood, and coffee, on
the other. There were no Saturday bargains in that
business world. The same advertisement answered
all requirements of the shop and its customers during
the remainder of the calendar year. There was a
comfortable certainty as to what might be bought
and the price thereof. An East-Greenwich customer
confidently wrote : " I send by the bearer one Dollar
for which please to send one Black Barcelona Long
Cravat which is Four Shillings Lawful Money, for
the remainder of the Money send me the value
thereof in your best Black Ribbon that is Suitable for
Rolling Men's Hair. The Barer is going to Lay out
some Money at Providence, which I recommended to
your Shop."

Three years after the new shop was opened, its
proprietor became the fortunate husband of Miss
Susannah Crawford, the granddaughter of Gabriel
Bernon and great-granddaughter of that Gideon
Crawford who first brought the name to Providence.
She is pronounced by the Gazette to be "an amiable
young Lady, endowed with every Accomplishment
that tends towards rendering a Marriage State agree-
able." The young couple set up their household gods
on the Towne Street opposite King's Church, it may
be in the very house that Susannah's grandfather had
built.

The Colonial Town 299

Like his father, Samuel Junior was numbered
among the pillars of the Congregational church,
where he as deacon took a prominent part in the
church administration during the eventful years of
the ministry of the Reverend David Shearman
Rowland. After the withdrawal of Mr. Bass, Mr.
Rowland was invited by the Congregationalists of
Providence to become their pastor. He had already
undergone a somewhat unusual experience while
laboring to further the cause of his Master as pastor
of the Congregational church in Plainfield, Connecti-
cut. Briefly stated, the facts are as follows: In 1747,
four years after taking his degree at Yale, Mr. Row-
land was called to the church in Plainfield. In the
course of the preliminary negotiations it transpired
that the candidate was an uncompromising advocate
of church government by means of a convention of
churches, or "Consociation," and equally opposed to
^'Separatism," or the local-option method of managing
church matters. Plainfield was Separatist, and a ma-
jority of the parishioners refused to confirm the call.

Notwithstanding this attitude of reserve on the
part of his flock, Rowland continued to oflficiate as
minister, probably believing that enforced spiritual
illumination would be more beneficial than the
"outer darkness." Gradually the vigilance of the
opposition relaxed, until finally it came to pass that
on one bitterly cold December day, when the town-
meeting was held in the regular course of events, only

300 "Providence in Colonial Times

about fifty of the townspeople obeyed the summons;
and of these, whether by accident or design, a large
majority belonged to the church party. Such a lead-
ing of Providence as this was not to be neglected.
Rowland was promptly voted into office, with a
liberal salary. The Separatist contingent were indig-
nant but helpless. Their efforts to induce Mr. Row-
land to resign were made in vain. In explicit terms
this champion of the faith set forth his conviction
that the divine call to uphold the Ecclesiastical
Constitution of Connecticut admitted no denial.

From that time to 1760 a state of open warfare
prevailed. Year after year the town refused to pay
the minister's salary, and year after year the min-
ister sued the town. The episode (which is treated
at length in Miss Larned's History of Windham
County) was closed by the formation of two religious
societies, and in the general rearrangement which
followed, Mr. Rowland found himself left out in the
cold. The church, whose battle as well as his own
he had so uncompromisingly sustained, voted to dis-
pense with his services, "on account of the great
uneasiness prevailing." Bereft of his hard-won
laurels in the very moment of victory, the undaunted
young pastor looked about for new fields of conquest.
They were close at hand. Shortly after his discon-
certing rejection at the hands of the ingrates at Plain-
field, he became the leader of a forlorn hope in
Providence.

Discourse on the Repeal of the Stamp Act,
1766.

; By Rev. David S. Rowland. From copy in the Rhode
Island Historical Society.

r^pIvlKE TrovidencF

ILLUSTRATED and IMPROVED,

Thankfgiving-DifcQurfQ,

PREACHED

(By. Defire) in the Presbyterian, q?
Congregational Churcf^

IN '

f^ROviDENCB, iV. £. Wcdnefday June 4, 1766*
^ ^eing Jiis Majesty's Birth Day, and Day of

Rejoicing,

OCCASIONED BY THE

REPEAL

OF THE

jS T A M P - A C T.

(Publifhed at the Defire of the Hearers)

.BY

DAVID S. ROWLAND, M. A,

Minlflcr of faid Church. ,

• The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice-

g, KiriLr David.

f'^ifree, a>iJ not wfng ycur liberty for ackak 9/ maliiiouftufs, but 4if
].. fcfvaiiis oj \^od.—-iear God,— honour thsf king.

[■ ~ Ap. PtTER.

!_., — - — , _- ^ _

■ . ; PROVIDE N.;C E, (New-England)
Friiued by Sarah &ddard, and Company,

£ • ' ■ klrnrDAVrn. ^

The Colonial Town 301

The Congregational church in that town had not
enjoyed the ministrations of a settled pastor since the
resignation of Mr. Bass, in 1758. The sympathetic
Doctor Stiles, of Newport, describes it as " reduced
to a low and disconsolate State ... the Succession
of the Church survived in but few ... I think only
4 Brethren." If few, they were none the less equal
to saving the situation. By a timely appeal to the
churches in Bristol, Medfield, and Rehoboth they
obtained spiritual counsel and fresh accessions to the
membership, bringing the numbers up to twenty-one.
Thus reinforced, the Church invited Mr. Rowland to
fill the vacant pulpit. He "took the pastoral Care
(without Instalment) accounting himself a Minis-
ter," says Stiles.

Although from this time forth the church presented
a creditable harvest of listeners, in response to Mr.
Rowland's unwearying labors, its financial record
was far from satisfactory. The Providence business
men of the eighteenth century, like the more widely
known leaders of industry of a later generation, saw
cause for congratulation in the fact that salvation
is free. Comforting themselves with this reflection,
they turned a deaf ear to appeals for the tithe of
anise and of cummin, preferring rather to invest their
hard-won shillings and pence in such enterprises as
commanded a market price.

At length in 1771, the sorely tried Rowland in-
formed his flock that he was *' necessitated to medi-

30 2 ^Providence in Colonial Times

tate a Removal for want of Subsistance." This un-
varnished statement aroused the "Gentlemen of
the Congregation," and loosened their purse-strings.
" They are able, if God gives them a heart, to main-
tain the Ministry," comments good Doctor Stiles, as
if that desirable consummation could hardly be at-
tained without the intervention of a " special Prov-
idence." A businesslike presentation of the facts
proved to be all-sufficient, however. Mr. Rowland's
stipend was raised from fifty to one hundred pounds
(legal money) per year, and he was to have "a
House to live in." Among the list of those immor-
talized by Stiles as "giving liberally" are the Bow-
ens, — Doctors Ephraim and Jabez, — the Night-
ingales, — father and son, — Deputy-Governor
Sessions, our old acquaintance Jacob Whitman,
and Joshua Hacker, — the owner of Hacker's Hall
and Hacker's Packet, both well-known institutions
in the Providence of the eighteenth century.

Under conditions so little indicative of prosperity
and liberality as those just described, we are some-
what puzzled to account for the unprecedented ap-
pearance of an organ in the Congregational church,
only nine months before the long-sufifering pastor
was led by force of circumstances to contemplate
resigning his charge. The organ possessed two
hundred pipes, so Doctor Stiles tells us, and that
worthy divine also records that "This is the first
organ in a dissenting Chh. in America except Jersey

The Colonial Town 303

[Princeton] College. . . . Mr. West has exercised
himself upon it a month in learning to play." The
use of instrumental music in church worship was
still a daring innovation in the eyes of most of our
forefathers. \\Tiile members of the "dissenting
churches" entertained conscientious scruples against
the employment of this worldly instrument in the
service of the Lord, its appearance in Providence
aroused sentiments of an entirely different order,
although equally condemnatory, in the breasts of
such as belonged to the Anglican communion. These
estimable adherents to the faith of their sovereign
seem to have felt that in this matter the dissenters
were not "playing fair," if we may judge from a
remark of Doctor Stiles, who says: "it gives great
offence to the Episcopalians in Providence, who say,
we have nothing to do with it."

Evidently this cause of offence proved to be a
stimulus to action as well, for in the early winter of
the following year, — 1772, — an edifying and pious
entertainment was announced to the good people of
Providence by means of the following broadside —

This Evening
The Tenth of December, at Six o'Clock the
i New

Organ
At King's Church, will be play'd on by Mr. Flagg.
A Number of Gentlemen belonging to the Town will
assist on the Occasion, and perform the vocal Parts.
A Sermon on the Lawfulness, Excellency, and Advan-

304 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

tage of Instrumental Music In public Worship, will
be preached by the Reverend John Graves, after which
a Collection will be made to defray the Expence of
bringing the Organ from Boston, and fixing it in the
Church.

Praise him with Organs. Ps. cl, 4.

The particular broadside quoted was the property
of Nicholas Brown, merchant, and a stanch Baptist
as well. An organ was anathema, according to his
definition of orthodoxy, and ill-pleased with the
Scriptural warrant appended by the light-minded
Episcopalians to their announcement of a combined
organ-recital and sermon, Mr. Brown added by way
of commentary thereto : " ' Praise him with dancing,
and the Stringed Instruments.' Ps. cl. 4th," and no
doubt deduced from this the comforting conviction
that David's "organ" could not have been a wind-
instrument.

Stiles alludes to the service as the "Consecration
of the Organ." " This Organ," he goes on to relate,
"was taken from the Concert-Hall in Boston — from
being employed in promoting Festivity, Merriment,
Effeminacy, Luxury, and Midnight Revellings — to
be used in the Worship of God." The Boston con-
certs of the eighteenth century must surely have been
more lightsome and piquant affairs than their suc-
cessors of orchestral fame to-day. In the almost
complete absence of any public diversion save that
furnished by the regularly recurring Sunday serv-

Announcement of Installation of New Organ at
King's Church, 1771

From the original broadside in the John Carter Brown
Library.

■•^:<.t^^ ■■tv^fj^'^r** '■*>■?' ?w»»^-

Thia^ Evening,

k,.;'- Tl^e TentK o£ D^cem^ett \a.t Six o' Clock, tK6

O R G A H

At King's Church, will be

■^«*s4^*

A Number of Gentlemen telonging to the Town
will aiTift on the Occafion, and perform the vocal
Parts. A SERMON, on the Lawfulnefs, Ex-
cellency and Advantage of Instrumental Music in pub-,
lie WorOiip, will be preached by the Reverend JOHN
GRAVES, after which a CoUedion will be made to
defray the Expence of bringing the ORGAN from

« Praife him with 0 RG A DrS:''-'V{a\m cl^
< 2yr7t<^fc' ^/nJMt ^cift^ ct t np^ a^^ V .^ r%^^^ <^

The Colonial Town 3^5

ices, we can easily imagine that good Mr. Graves
secured a large and attentive audience for his dis-
quisition on the "Lawfulness and Excellency of
Music," etc.

Even more remarkable than the infrequency of
public entertainments in the Providence of that day
is the fact that when an attempt was made to supply
the deficiency, it was sternly frowned on by the
townspeople at large, not from religious or moral
scruples, but because of the extravagant habits which
were thus engendered and fostered. The ill-fated
attempt alluded to was due to the enterprise of a
company of travelling players. Their talents had
been warmly appreciated by the pleasure-loving
planters of the South, where a certificate of good be-
havior and histrionic merit was furnished them by
no less a personage than the autocratic Governor
Dinwiddie, of Virginia. Thus armed they went forth
from the little town of Williamsburg, and after many
days appeared in Newport, where this same certi-
ficate was published in the local paper, the Mercury y
with a statement of the company's intention "to
entertain the Town a short Time with Theatrical
Performances. As they have been at considerable
Expense, they humbly hope the Inhabitants will
grant them their Protection and if they are so happy
as to meet with Encouragement, they propose to give
a Benefit Night for the Support of the Poor.'*
There were moneyed men in Newport who hailed

3o6 'Providence in Colonial Times

this new attraction with pleasure. Theatre-parties
became the proper thing, and the players benefited
not the poor alone, but themselves as well. As the
second season in Newport drew to a close, the suc-
cessful actors turned their thoughts to the neighbor-
ing town of Providence, whence a certain amount of
patronage had been already forthcoming. With the
aid of a letter of introduction to Nicholas and John
Brown, a preliminary visit on the part of the advance
agent proved encouraging. A lot of land was secured
on the north side of what is now Meeting Street, then
a new thoroughfare, with few houses, and those in
scattered groups of three or four dwellings. The
players put up a house at their own expense,- — not
an elaborate affair surely, for it was on May 20, 1762,
that Benjamin Mason, of Newport, penned his letter
of introduction, and the theatrical season was to open
in July.

We may safely take it for granted that, like all
other innovations, this establishment of the "His-
trionic Academy" was viewed with a certain tincture
of moral disapproval by the more sober-minded
among the townspeople. In the first week in July the
season was opened with a representation entitled
Moro Castle taken hy Storm, — founded, no doubt,
on the siege of Havana, one of the later incidents of
the Seven Years' War. Its success was undoubted,
but short-lived. A long drought and a light hay-crop
appear to have intensified the natural reluctance of

The Colonial Town 307

the Providence public to encourage, or even to con-
done, any form of unnecessary expenditure. A pro-
posal to forbid the players to exercise their calling
was agitated, and found many supporters. Benjamin
Mason felt called upon to bestir himself once more
in behalf of his friends. He wrote a second letter to
Nicholas and John Brown, dated July ig, and run-
ning as follows : " The Bearer Mr. David Doug-
lass is the principal Gentleman of the Actors who is
Come from N. York expecting they have Liberty to
Act at your place . . . any assistance you can give
him shall esteem as done myself, I realy think it will
be of Advantage to your place, as I heard when at
Boston Numbers of Gentm. would come from thence,
as will also from this place, & I think it will be a hard
thing upon them if your people have Suffered them
to go on with their Building & not Allow them to Act,
at Least as Long as would pay their expenses. . . ."

The townspeople, however, turned a deaf ear to all
remonstrances. In fact, the same day on which Mr.
Mason wrote his appeal for equity saw a town-
meeting assembled in Providence," Especially Called
by Warrant," and by this potent assembly it was
formally resolved that application should be made
to the General Assembly at the following session,
" To have a Act made for Suppressing all Kinds of
Stage plays or Theatrical Shows within this Colony."

In accordance with this mandate of the people the
state of affairs was duly set forth in a petition : In

3o8 ^Providence in Colonial Times

defiance of the town's prohibition, the actors were
"daily continuing to Exhibit Stage Plays and other
Theatrical Performances, which has been and Still
is the Ocasion of Great uneasiness to . . . your
Honors' Petitioners in this County, humbly conceiv-
ing that So Expensive Amusements and idle Diver-
sions, cannot be of any good Tendancy among us,
especially at this Time, when this Colony as well as
others, is labouring under the grievous Calamity of
an uncommon Drought, and a very great Scarcity of
Hay and Provisions." For these cogent reasons the
Assembly is requested to make "Some Effectual Law
to prevent any Stage Plays, Commedies, or Theatri-
cal Performances being acted in this Colony for the
Future." The legislators bowed to public opinion. A
bill to forbid plays and playhouses was rushed
through both branches of the Assembly on August
24, and by virtue of special clauses dealing with the
existing situation, the obnoxious comedians were
summarily warned out of Providence.

The sheriff, whose duty it was "to proclaim the
Act by beat of Drum through the Streets of the Com-
pact part of the Town of Providence," sagaciously
contrived to combine business with pleasure. At-
tending the "Academy" with the proclamation in
his pocket, he listened with great enjoyment to the
evening's performance. At its close he rose in his
seat, drew forth the dictum of the Assembly, and
with decorous deliberation read it to the audience.

The Colonial Town 309

The first theatrical season in Providence came thus
to an untimely end. Public sentiment was undoubt-
edly adverse to the players. Towards the close of
their stay, threats of violence were heard, and tradi-
tion tells us that these murmurings became so loud
that John Brown — then a hot-headed young man
of twenty-six — prevailed on his friends to bring the
cannon from the neighboring cadet-house to bear
upon the Histrionic Academy, and that this Napo-
leonic manoeuvre effectually intimidated the fiery
spirits among the opposition, who had probably
meditated nothing more 'deadly than a battery of
eggs, varied perhaps by an occasional brick or stone.
The names of the Browns and their coterie of in-
timate friends do not appear among the four hundred
and five signatures to the anti-theatre petition.
Doubtless their sentiments were akin to those ex-
pressed by Martin Howard, of Newport, who figured
as a sufferer in the Stamp-Act riots of 1765, and who
was prominent among the little group of Rhode-
Island loyalists. He evidently had enjoyed the short
theatrical season in Providence, for, writing to John
Brown in September, he says: 'T have not forgot the
very obliging Manner in which both you and Mrs.
Brown treated Mrs. Howard & myself at Providence,
if the Rascally Crew had not Expelled the poor
Players from your Town We should have spent some
time at Providence." Not until 1792 was another
attempt made to establish a theatre in Providence.

3 1 o "Providence in Colonial Times

After the triumph of the party of economy and
utility there was a complete dearth of public amuse-
ments, save for the omnipresent lottery, without
which no enterprise, from street-paving to parson-
ages, was undertaken, and the appearance of an occa-
sional " Entertainment for the Curious," such as that
described in the Gazette, in March, 1764. This was
a "Course of Experiments in that instructive and
entertaining Branch of Natural Philosophy called
Electricity." The course was to consist of two lec-
tures. In the first of these the abstract nature and
properties of electricity would be explained, while the
second offered " Many curious Experiments, natur-
ally representing the various Phenomena of Thun-
der-Storms," and the lecturer promised that the
"Endeavouring to guard against Lightning, in the
Manner proposed" should be "shewn not to be
chargeable with presumption, nor inconsistent with
any of the Principles of natural or reveal'd Religion."
All this was offered to the public for "one Spanish
Dollar."

After these atmospheric disturbances had cleared
away, the townspeople were left to their own re-
sources for another six months. This time their out-
look on life was broadened by a "View of the famous
City of Jerusalem," somewhat ambiguously de-
scribed as "a Work of Seven Years, done at German-
town in Pennsylvania." This triumph of cis- Atlantic
art represented "Jerusalem, the Temple of Solomon,

The Colonial Town 3 1 1

his Royal Throne, the noted Towers, and Hills, like-
wise the Sufferings of Our Saviour from the Garden
of Gethsemane to the Cross on the Hill of Golgotha" ;
— and was well summed up as "an artful Piece of
Statuary . . . worthy to be seen by the Curious."

It was not until 1769 that "the Curious" were
afforded an opportunity to enjoy anything remotely
approaching the forbidden drama. At length the
interesting announcement was made that — •

At Mr. Hacker's Assembly-Room will be read

THE BEGGAR'S OPERA,

By a Person who has read and sung in most of the great
Towns in America. . . . He personates all the Charac-
ters, and enters into the different Humours or Passions,
as they change from one to another, throughout the
Opera.

Tickets to be had ... at Half a Dollar each.
. . . To begin at Seven o'Clock.
N.B. Young Gentlemen and Ladies taught to read
with Propriety any Author in the English Language.

The postscript assuredly argues well for the im-
personator's courage and sense of decorum. This ad-
vertisement is but one of several symptoms denot-
ing that the purse-strings of the town fathers were
loosened in behalf of the younger generation. A year
earlier than this introduction of intellectual dissipa-
tion in the form of a reading of the Beggars' Opera,
one John Baptist Tioli announced in the columns of
the local paper that he proposed " to open a Dancing

312 "Providence in Colonial Times

School . . . where will be taught the Minuet,
Double Minuet, Quadruple Minuet, Paspie, Gavotta,
Alcuver, Hornpipe, Country Dances, &c of the new-
est Figures." Having taught "the principal Nobility
in England and Ireland, and some very respectable
Personages in America," the instructor was confident
"of giving entire Satisfaction." His classes were to
be held three days in the week. From nine until
twelve A.M. ladies only were taught, and the hours
from five until eight p.m. were " solely devoted to the
Instruction of Gentlemen." The advertisement con-
cludes by pointing out the resulting social advantages
in these words: "After one Month's Instruction, the
Gentlemen and Ladies will be directed to attend
together, on every Friday Evening, at which Time
their respective Parents inclined to Speculation will
have free Access."

Three weeks later Mr. Tioli gave a concert, "at
Mr. Hacker's Room," in Hacker's Hall on theTowne
Street, where many a gay party met to dance the
hours away during the next two generations of
pleasure-seekers. On this festive occasion Mr. Tioli
was "to perform a Tamburin Dance, in the Italian
Taste." His fellow-artist, a Mr. Dawson, was "by
particular Desire" to "present a Hornpipe." The
concert was to be followed by a ball. The necessary
tickets " (without which none can be admitted) " cost
"One Dollar each." These tickets admitted a gentle-
man and a lady. There is little doubt that they were

Playing-Card Invitation

From John Brown for a dance at his new house, 1788.
From original in John Carter Brown Library.

:ian

:<X)O<X>0<XXXX^<X>O<X0<XXXXX>CCO00C<X
A •X^

6 Mr. John Brown i requefta >|
xtJfeFiv^rof . .^y^^ ^

' y Company to jl Dance, af'Bl^>f
i. ^< Houlc on the Hill, on Friday '^r
j '<j Evening next, Seven o Clock* <|

[ X January 2, ^lySS. ^-

r^-' - ^'^ ^ / ■ '^ .

The Colonial Town 3^3

printed on the backs of playing-cards, as was the
prevailing custom in those good old times when paper
was a luxury, and cardboard well-nigh unknown.

It is pleasant to realize that Mr. Tioli's varied tal-
ents met the recognition they deserved. His stay in
town was of two months' duration, and in his an-
nouncement of the farewell concert and ball with
which it was brought to a close, the courteous Italian
turned a pretty compliment to his patrons as he ex-
pressed his thanks for the favors shown him. " 'T is
with Reluctance he quits a Place, the Inhabitants
of which are justly remarked for their Politeness
towards Strangers, among whom he should think
himself happy in residing, did not Business urge his
immediate Departure."

By means of these old advertisements in the
Providence Gazette we catch many illuminating
glimpses of the social life of our forefathers. When,
in 1762, William Goddard set up a printing-house in
the town of Providence and published the first news-
paper, he met with warm expressions of appreciation,
— even though we must admit that the profits of the
venture fell far short of the young printer's expecta-
tions.

The first number of this representative of the press
appeared on October 20. It consists of four pages,
measuring eight by fourteen inches, and contains a
prospectus addressed to the public, in which are set
forth "the Utility and Advantages of Performances

314 "Providence in Colonial Times

of this Nature, in a Mercantile Colony," together
with the subscription price of ''Seven Shillings Law-
ful Money per Annum." The literary bill of fare
offers the first of a series of articles on "The Planting
and Growth of Providence," from the ready pen of
Stephen Hopkins; a "Journal of the Expedition
against St. John's, in New Foundland"; a column
devoted to foreign affairs ; notices of prizes brought
into the ports of Philadelphia and New York; five
local advertisements ; " The Manifesto of the Em-
press Catherine II On her Advancement to the
Throne"; a "Genealogical Table of the House of
Russia" ; and several short extracts from the London
papers of the last of July and the first week in August.
Such news as the above was to be furnished to the
public in weekly instalments.

Although the editor and proprietor was born in
Connecticut and learned his trade in New York, his
kinsfolk were found throughout Rhode-Island col-
ony. His mother was Sarah Updike, the daughter of
that Lodowick who "planted" Wickford. The rec-
ord of her six brothers and sisters, and their descend-
ants, would fill a volume, and that volume would be
one of more than local interest and importance. Be-
sides numerous relatives of delightfully hospitable
proclivities in Newport and the Narraganset Coun-
try, young William Goddard found in Providence
his cousin. Captain John Updike, who had two years
ago given up his seafaring life, married Mistress Ann

The First Issue of the Providence Gazette

Established by William Goddard in 1762. From copy in
the Rhode Island Historical Society.

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The Colonial Town 3^5

Crawford, and established her and himself beneath
the substantial family roof-tree, still standing on the
Towne Street, albeit fallen from its high estate as a
mansion-house to serve the combined purposes of
shop and tenement accommodations.

For the few years immediately preceding his
marriage. Captain Updike was shipmaster for Oba-
diah Brown and Company. In 1758 he took the good
sloop Speedwell on the " First Voyage to Mississippi,"
in the larger meaning of that designation; for on
perusal we find that his sailing-orders direct him to
secure a load of logwood at the Bay of Honduras.
The next year he sailed in a *' flag a truse" for Louisi-
ana with two French prisoners as exchanges, and a
much assorted cargo of dry goods, glassware, and
groceries. The exchange of prisoners was readily
effected, but the governor at New Orleans, upon
getting wind of the ensuing mercantile transactions,
peremptorily interposed, and (says Updike) "wrote
. . . that I must Begone from his Government."
The enforced departure was made in such haste that
the unfortunate trader had not time to collect such
money as was owing him.

Another attempt, made in the following year,
brought down upon the head of this persistent
Yankee " Obsolute Orders for Departer," accom-
panied, however, by permission to appoint an agent
to collect the outstanding obligations. Rebuffed a
second time at New Orleans, Captain Updike "pro-

3 1 6 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

ceeded to Penzecola," where he "Could have sold
Great part of the Cargoe. . . . But the Garrison had
not Received their pay Haveing above 12 Months
Arrirs due and there was Little Money in the Place."
This interesting experience closed the nautical chap-
ter of John Updike's career. As one of the leading
merchants of Providence, and as a pillar of King's
Church, he long enjoyed the affection and respect of
all who knew him, and we are assured by the writer
of his obituary that "he was eminently distinguished
for his nautical abilities and great ingenuity."

The last-named qualification appears in his cousin
the printer, who published pamphlets, almanacs, and
an occasional book, besides offering to the local pub-
lic "A Variety of Books, Stationary, &c. Lately im-
ported from London, and to be sold cheap for ready
Money, ... At the Printing-Office near the Court-
House, Among which are . . . The Whole Duty of
Man, Watts Miscellanies, . . . Hymns and Lyric
Poems . . . Conduct of a Married Life, Ovid's Art
of Love, Young's Night Thoughts . . . Testaments,
Spelling Books, Psalters . . . and a few select Plays.
. . . Also, a few elegant Pictures, "u/z. of His Majesty
King George IIL and his Royal Consort Queen
Charlotte; the great Mr. Pitt, and the immortal
General Wolfe. Also, a few Boxes of Powder for the
Preservation of the Teeth; much esteemed by
Ladies."

However profitable the printing-business as a

Portrait of William Goddard

From a reproduction of the original portrait owned by
the late Col. William Goddard.

'1 1 «V' I

The Colonial Town 3^7

whole may have been, it is but too evident that the
newspaper department did not pay its way. Ap-
peals for the payment of dilatory subscriptions begin
to appear in its columns by the end of the first six
months. When to this perennial setback was added
the burden of stamp duties, — which if paid drew
down public execration on the head of the editor, and
if unpaid exposed him to prosecution on the part of
the Crown, — William Goddard withdrew himself
and his news-sheet from the debatable ground by
suspending publication for six months. It was not,
however, until the Stamp Act had been repealed —
over a year later — that the paper reappeared, and
this time under the auspices of another publishing
firm, — that of Sarah Goddard and Company. Its
pioneer editor had already found a business opening
in New York. From there he went to Philadelphia,
where, in 1768, his mother joined him. From 1773
to 1792, Mr. Goddard published a semi-weekly paper
in Baltimore.

It must not be thought for a moment that these
years of absence were years of forgetfulness. There
were frequent visits to Providence quite unconnected
with newspaper items and exchanges, until, indeed,
we come to an item chronicled under the date of May
27, 1786, to the following effect: "Thursday last was
married at Cranston . . . William Goddard, Es-
quire, of Baltimore, Printer, to Miss Abigail Angell,
eldest daughter of the late Brigadier-General Angell ;

3 1 8 ^Providence in Colonial Times

a Lady of great Merit, her mental Acquirements,
joined to a most amiable Disposition, being highly
honourable to the Sex, and are pleasing Presages of
connubial Felicity.'* "Brigadier-General Angell's"
earlier career as town-clerk and justice of the peace in
Providence is better known than his military experi-
ences, and probably furnishes quite as strong a claim
to the respect of posterity. He was a man of upright
character and his public no less than his private ca-
reer was marked by independence and probity. Six
years after his marriage William Goddard returned
to Rhode Island. The remainder of his life was
passed on his farm in Johnston, where was born his
son, William Giles Goddard, the future Professor of
Belles-Lettres in Brown University.

As for the Providence Gazette y after the "Com-
pany" became embodied in the person of the admir-
able and sagacious John Carter, of Philadelphia, the
little news-sheet entered on a creditable, permanent,
and fairly prosperous career. This change was
effected in 1768. Carter, who had learned his trade
of the shrewd and practical Benjamin Franklin, was
a young man of twenty-two when he came from
Philadelphia to Providence, in 1767. His mother
was left a widow but a few months before the birth
of this son, the youngest of her five children. His
father was an Irishman, who was killed in a naval
battle of the war of 1745. The son was a man of
considerable acumen, well trained for his business,

The Colonial Town 3^9

— as might be expected, — and possessed of that
choleric and generous-hearted temperament that so
frequently characterizes the Irish-American. He
retained "the sign of Shakespear's Head," which had
served to mark his predecessor's calling, but the
selection of a permanent place of business was evi-
dently fraught with difficulty. It was not until sev-
eral changes had been made, that the combined
printing and post-office was " removed to Meeting
Street, nearly opposite the Friends Meeting House,"
where its whilom domicile may be seen to-day.

Carter's house was next door to his brother-in-law,
Captain John Updike. Both men were of that assert-
ive type of character which rather courts than avoids
the candid expression of any difference of opinion.
It is not surprising, therefore, that when in late years
Captain Updike rented his empty shop, close by, to a
rival printer, Mr. Carter's emphatic protests brought
forth lively rejoinders from the Captain, nor can we
doubt that the resulting tempest made the neighbor-
hood teapot an exhilarating theme of discussion for
the time being. John Carter's daughter Ann mar-
ried Nicholas Brown, the son of our old friend
Nicholas, — but those are the chronicles of a later
generation.

John Carter's "sign of Shakespeare's Head"
topped a post some six or eight feet in height, which
stood before the house, and symbolized the treasures
of literature to be found within.

320 ^Providence in Colonial Times

The majority of the many and diverse signs, used
by the contemporaries of John Carter to lure the
passing customer across the threshold, were sus-
pended from a crossbeam thrust into the wall, and pro-
jecting over the doorway. Another variation is seen in
the " Sign of the Brazen Lion," at the North End of the
town, where the king of beasts, most preposterously
reclining in midair, is suspended from a veritable
gallows-tree, by means of chains attached to his back.

A neighboring shop belonged to " Robert Perrigo,
Cordwainer," who displayed the "Sign of the Boot,"
and declared himself competent to make boots and
shoes "after the neatest and most genteel Manner,
which he sells very reasonable." He was also pro-
vided with "the best of Butter to sell by the small
Quantity."

Captain Joseph Olney, likewise of the North End,
offered for sale at the "Sign of the Golden Ball,"
"Hardware and Rum, and Other equally well as-
sorted Merchandize," while Nathaniel Balch, at the
"Sign of the Hat, near Captain Joseph Olney's,"
sold stoneware and decanters, "pipes pepper, spices,
&c., Cheshire cheese, also hats, flour, chocolate, . . .
also a few lottery tickets." He made a specialty of
"Women's very neat Lynn Shoes ... at 6j-. Zd. by
the single Pair, and cheaper by the Quantity." Balch
was one of that group of beaux among whom Moses
Brown, Jabez Bowen, and Jonathan Clarke were
conspicuous.

Shakespeare's Head (now 21 Meeting Street)

^('fsaar^ omr-f iH ^'-Ay

The Colonial Town 321

Others utilized the well-known landmarks of the
town. Darius Sessions — better known perhaps as
Deputy-Governor Sessions — described his shop as
"on the Main Street between the Court-House and
the Church, and directly opposite the large Button-
Wood Tree." There he was ready to supply "New
Milk, Cheese, Choice French Brandy, Holland Ge-
neva, Cordial Waters, and Sundry Sorts of Wines,"
together with "a general Assortment of West India
Goods, Grocery, and many other Articles."

A little south of the Deputy Governor, Clark and
Nightingale advertised "a large Assortment of Eng-
lish and India Piece Goods ; Likewise Stationary and
Hard Ware ... at their Shop, newly opened, at the
Sign of the Frying-Pan and Fish, adjoining to the
North-West Corner of the Court-House Lot, and
opposite Oliver Arnold, Esquire." The junior mem-
ber of this firm was Joseph Nightingale, a younger
son of Samuel, of Concord Distil House fame. Some
years later the firm removed to the south of the Town
Parade, and the partners built for themselves man-
sion-houses on "the new Street, called Back, or
Benefit." Joseph Nightingale's house was sold after
his death, in 1797, and is to-day known by the name
of its new owner as the "John Carter Brown House."

" Oliver Arnold, Esquire," who was so universally
known as to serve his fellow-townsmen in the capac-
ity of landmark as well as that of legal adviser, died
two years after the date of the advertisement just

32 2 ^Providence in Colonial Times

quoted, at the early age of thirty-five. He was a
brilliant member of the group of able lawyers who
flourished in the colony of Rhode Island during these
busy days of litigation, when the man without a law-
suit on his hands would have been as rarely found
as the white blackbird. If no quarrel worthy of a
lawyer's fee was available, it was always possible —
in Rhode Island — to sue, or be sued, for debt. The
early death of so promising a member of the legal
profession was universally deplored. Not content
with an unusually laudatory obituary, couched in
terms of sufficiently complimentary prose, one ad-
mirer resorted to poetry to express his feelings, and in
the course of a series of couplets informed his readers
that, —

With Virtue, Learning, Wit and Worth combin'd,
Benev'lence warm'd his Breast and fir'd his Mind;
Unmoved by Prejudice, unbrib'd by Gold,
Justice he sought, in conscious Virtue Bold —

Correct with Spirit, eloquent with Ease,
Intent to reason, or polite to please:
Persuasive Eloquence sat on his Tongue,
: While he the Right approv'd, condemn'd the Wrong.

Emotions other than those of unmixed regret act-
uated Oliver Arnold's fellow-townsman, John Cole,
who at once put an advertisement into the Gazette^
to say that "as several Gentlemen of the Law have
lately removed from Providence and as there is now
another Vacancy at the Bar, by the Death of the
late worthy and ingenious Oliver Arnold, Esquire,

The Colonial Town 323

the Subscriber proposes undertaking the Practice of
the Law, a Business to which he was brought up."

This worthy "Subscriber," who came from Wick-
ford to Providence, was a descendant of Anne
Hutchinson, and may have acquired his own " very
voluble tongue" from that distinguished ancestress.
He was an educated man, well grounded in the
classics, and well equipped for his chosen profession
of the law by a course of study in the office of Daniel
Updike, the attorney-general for the colony. With
that due regard for precedent and custom which
becomes a legal mind, John Cole married his patron's
daughter, and shortly afterward came to Providence.
He soon made a name for himself in his chosen pro-
fession, and employed his extra-legal moments in
trading in real estate, and handling cordage. His
holdings at Tockwotton became really extensive.
There he bought a one-half interest in a ropewalk,
and there he built for himself a house of "five Rooms
on a Floor" and laid out "a handsom Garden" on
what is now Cole Street, just beyond East Street.
Cole describes his estate as "For a pleasant Situation
and extensive Prospect . . . inferior to no Place
whatever, as one may stand at the Door, and take a
View of the Bay and River from Rhode-Island to
Providence."

As to-day we stand in Tockwotton Park and force
imagination to eliminate from the scene the un-
sightly coal-wharves and gasometers that disfigure

324 "Providence in Colonial Times

one of the most naturally beautiful spots in Provi-
dence, it is not difficult to realize the truth of John
Cole's description, one hundred and fifty-odd years
ago. The ropewalk was at the northeast corner of
the present Hope and Cole Streets.

In 1769, John Cole was appointed postmaster in
Providence "in the Room of Mr. William Goddard."
His somewhat disorderly habits led to frequent in-
convenience in the receipt and delivery of letters.
When, in a hurried departure for the circuit courts,
the busy lawyer rode out of town, carrying with him
in a fit of absent-mindedness the incoming mail for
the current week, even the long-suffering Providence
public raised a voice of protest. Cole's incumbency
was succeeded by the more satisfactory one of John
Carter, who for two years labored in vain to extract
from the dilatory and migratory Cole the books and
forms pertaining to his office, which he was "in
daily expectation of receiving," says Inspector Hugh
Finlay, in his official report. Having profitably
passed the Sundays of his youth under the ministra-
tions of good Doctor McSparran, Cole attached him-
self to King's Church on coming to Providence, and
gave that society his hearty support. His career was
marked by prosperity and success. He became chief
justice of the superior court and a leading politician.
He was especially active in the Revolutionary cause.
He died in 1777, at the inoculation hospital then
recently established in North Providence.

The Colonial Town 325

"Nearly opposite" the firm of Clark and Nightin-
gale, on the Towne Street, was Knight Dexter, a
shopkeeper of trading instincts inherited from both
father and grandfather. At the " Sign of the Boy and
Book," he sold a well-selected assortment of dry
goods whose very names have become obsolete.
There were " Shalloons, Tammies, Sagathees, Thick-
setts, Taffaties and Persians; Allopeens, Calliman-
coes, red and blue Duffils, black and blue Everlast-
ings," as well as "London Pewter, Spelling-Books
and Inkpots; Allspice, Copperas, and Log-Wood."
A little later, when the summer sun had dried the
fords and mud-holes, Mr. Dexter extended the scope
of his business operations to include "a Number of
good Horses and genteel Carriages, for the Use of
Gentlemen and Ladies, whether for long Journies,
little rural Sallies, or grand Parties of Pleasure,
equipped on the shortest Notice, and at a very mod-
erate Rate." Mr. Dexter's farm occupied the land
now held by the Dexter Asylum, so called in remem-
brance of his son Ebenezer Knight Dexter, who
donated the property to the city of Providence.

Close by Knight Dexter's shop was the popular
tavern of Richard Olney, rechristened the "Crown
Coffee House," the better to keep abreast of the
times. From this centre of activity the stage-coach
was advertised to set out every Tuesday morning for
Boston. This public accommodation was due to the
enterprise of Thomas Sabin. Smith and Sabin kept

326 "Providence in Colonial Times

a shop "at the Sign of the Sukan's Head, near the
East End of the Great Bridge," where were sold "dry
Goods, both East and West-Indian, at the lowest
Rates."

A short distance around the corner from Smith and
Sabin, and just beyond the old wading-place, was the
shop where, "At the Sign of the Elephant," James
Green sold "A Large and Compleat Assortment of
Braziery, English Piece Goods, Rum, Flax, Indigo,
and Tea."

Still farther north, at the point where now the
railway tunnel enters the hillside, was the "Sign of
the Golden Eagle." Here Joseph and William Rus-
sell offered to the subscribers to the Gazette "Velvets,
Broadcloths, superfine, of scarlet for Men's and
Women's long Cloaks"; also paper, looking-glasses,
and books. Four years later, their offer of laces,
buttons, firesets, hinges, powder-horns, indigo, and
grindstones is enforced by an appeal to local patri-
otism: "As we lay out our Money chiefly in this
Town and Country round, and as others send the
greatest Part they receive out of the Government, to
the great Detriment of this Colony and of this Town
in particular; we doubt not but the People among
us . . . will give us the Preference."

Joseph and William Russell were sons of a worthy
Boston merchant, Thomas Russell by name. The
boys of the family came to Providence in or about
the year 1752, when Joseph was twenty years of age.

The Colonial Town 327

and William thirteen. They settled on the West Side
of the river, where within the previous ten years more
improvements had been set on foot than the East
Side had tolerated in as many decades. The Boston
pioneers proved themselves men of substance, if not
of years. By 1759 they were owners of a shop and
wharf on a portion of the land now occupied by the
Banigan Building. A few years later the shop and its
proprietors moved to the East Side, where they be-
came identified with the Sign "of the Golden Eagle,"
on the Towne Street.

Other immigrants from the Russell roof-tree ar-
rived in Providence. A younger brother, Jonathan,
put in an appearance in or near 1770, bought some
land on the West Side, and set up a shop there "at
the Sign of the Black-Boy, opposite to Captain
George Jackson's," where he sold "at the most
reasonable Rate for Cash A neat Assortment of
European & other Goods — Choice West-India &
New-England Rum, Sugar, Flour, Indigo, Tea,
Coffee, &c."

John — the second son — had already identified
himself with a shipyard where were built, we may
assume, such vessels as the ship Nancy, of one hun-
dred and sixty-six tons burden, which was purchased
by Nicholas Brown and Company of Joseph and
William Russell, in 1764. Joseph and William Rus-
sell appear to have owned the first ships which
cleared from Providence for London. The snow

328 "Providence in Colonial Times

Tristram Shandy and her cargoes called forth many
an expansive advertisement in the newspaper issues
of the sixties. These brothers were associated in their
family and business life until Joseph's death, in 1792.

During the unsettled days of the Revolutionary
period, when the British from their base at Newport
harassed the shores of Narragansett Bay as the
whim of the moment dictated, and Providence was
filled with poverty-stricken refugees, many a pru-
dent and patriotic citizen removed his, family and
his valuables to some farm in the back country, or
to some inland town less readily accessible from the
enemy's headquarters. It was during this time of
uncertainty and anxiety that Joseph Russell bought
a farm among the hills of Woodstock, Connecticut,
and the attractions of that beautiful countryside
proved sufficiently potent to prevent a permanent
residence in Providence after the war's alarms had
died away. He died at Woodstock, a comparatively
young man, in the sixtieth year of his age. His
obituary chronicles among other items that he was "a
Trustee of the College in this Town, and had filled
the Office of a Magistrate in this State. As a Man
of Business, he was industrious and punctual ; as
a Christian, a regular Observer of public Worship
in the Episcopal Church."

Out of his family of eleven children three daugh-
ters survived him. His oldest son Joseph, who is pro-
nounced by John Howland "one of the handsomest

The Colonial Town 329

young men in town," lived to the age of thirty and
married Joana Jenckes, the daughter of our old
acquaintance the lieutenant-governor. The morbidly
pathetic story of his daughter Elizabeth, who
mourned her brilliant young lover in seclusion for
nine years, and followed him to the grave when she
was thirty-three, may be read in Updike's Memoirs
of the Rhode Island Bar. The twin daughters who
died in girlhood attract our attention from the cir-
cumstance that they were christened Hayley and
Hopkins, obviously to commemorate the London
firm of that name, to whom the Russells, and also
the Browns, made frequent consignments. It is some-
what unusual to find so conspicuous an acknowledg-
ment of past favors in the annals of an importing-
house.

William Russell never married. After the death of
his brother Joseph, he returned to the Providence
house on the Towne Street, and lived there until his
own death, in 1825. -^t the beginning of the war of
the Revolution he was commanding officer of the
Providence Cadets, and throughout his long life was
always known as Colonel Russell. Six years before
his death, and shortly after the passing of his eight-
ieth birthday. Colonel Russell wrote to the Reverend
Mr. Crocker, of St. John's Church (formerly King's
Church), to say that, while he was a Baptist from
principle he was "not a stiffs, rigid one," and that his
"late, never to be forgotten Brother Mr. Joseph Rus-

3 3 o Vrovidence in Colonial Times

sell . . . and his large family were of your Society
— and in his day a piller of your Church. All his
numerous of-spring are so also — as are most of my
other relatives. They are right — and I am right —
if we from the heart really think so. Perhaps it may
be tho't a little singular by some few of our Society
that I should leave behind me a request to have the
Church funeral service, read over my Grave, when I
am gone. But Sir I Jo request it, provided there is no
impropriety in its being done to one of another So-
ciety, this you are a judge of, as it respects myself it
can do little, or rather no Good. But as I shall leave
behind me many relatives of your Society, it prob-
ably will be Gratifying to 'em to have the Church
fun'l service read over my Grave, and that Sir is my
motive for wishing it done."

No one can read these words of kindly considera-
tion for others and not look with a more sympathetic
interest on the monument in St. John's burial-
ground, erected in memory of Joseph and William,
"Brothers and Partners in Trade Who lived to-
gether Thirty years with the most endearing love,
affection, and real friendship Till Death separated
them for a short period. As in their lives they were
most happily connected — so doth their Ashes now
sweetly sleep together in this same grave, till the
Trump of God shall call them to awake."

The remaining brothers of the house of Russell —
John, Jonathan, and Thomas — were all so fortunate

The Colonial Town 3 3 ^

as to leave heirs to perpetuate their name and fame.
John served as commissary during part of the Revo-
lutionary War. He lived on Benefit Street, at the foot
of Dorr's Hill. A more interesting personality is that
of his son William. The boy was a born sailor, and
must have given evidence of the fact at a tender age,
for when eighteen he was put in command of an
East-Indiaman. This was the beginning of a long
and prosperous nautical career. For twenty-four
years Captain Russell "ploughed the ocean wave'*
between Providence and the ports of India and
China, to the unalloyed satisfaction of all immedi-
ately concerned.

Jonathan Russell, of the shop on the West Side, at
the "Sign of the Black Boy," withdrew to enjoy the
serene pleasures of a rural life at Mendon, Massa-
chusetts, after the virtual destruction of the business
of Providence consequent upon the appearance of
our English cousins in Newport. His son — subse-
quently the Honorable Jonathan Russell — was of
those on whom greatness may be truly said to be
thrust. The boy — a bright, talented young fellow
— came to Providence to study law. His hopes of
success in this field were quenched since it proved
impossible for him to speak without notes, and the
young man became a merchant. When he was serv-
ing as supercargo on board a vessel bound to some
European port, the ship was seized by a French
cruiser and taken into Copenhagen. It proved some-

332 "Providence in Colonial Times

what difficult to impress on the minds of those in
authority the claims of neutrals to be treated with
respect, and Russell at length proceeded to Paris in
order to obtain the help and protection of the Amer-
ican Minister there, — General Armstrong. This
move proved effective, and as matters dragged their
diplomatic length across the stage of French politics,
the Minister became so much impressed with his
young countryman's tact and ability that on his own
return to America he persuaded Russell to remain in
Paris, in charge of American interests. His choice
of a substitute was vindicated. Russell acquitted
himself with credit, and served as one of the com-
missioners to conclude the Treaty of Ghent, at the
close of the War of 1812. The political career for
which these events so admirably prepared the way
eluded the poor man's grasp even as his hand seemed
about to close upon it. On his return to America he
was at once sent to Congress, but his inherent inabil-
ity to speak in public prevented his becoming more
than a voting member.

The youngest of the Russell contingent who came
to Providence in pre-Revolutionary times was
Thomas of that name. He was a half-brother of
Joseph, William, John and Jonathan, and the junior
by seventeen years of the youngest of this first group.
He and his sister Elizabeth — one year the older of
the two — came to live with Brother Jonathan when
quite young, — not improbably after their mother's

The Colonial Town 3 33

second marriage. Their father died in 1760. John
Rowland is authority for the statement that little
Tommy Russell tended shop for his big brother.
"He was a bright, active lad," says Rowland; "he
was about my own age, and we spent many evenings
together." When Brother Jonathan moved to Men-
don, Tommy became a lieutenant in the Continental
Army. He saw service in several Hudson River
campaigns, and took part in the action of 1778 under
Sullivan, when the pursuing British were repulsed by
the rear guard of the American forces in the so-
called Battle of Rhode Island.

In November, 1779, our young military hero was
appointed aid to General Stark with the rank of
major. His subsequent experience serves as one
more illustration of the well-worn maxim that bad
luck on the battle-field may be compensated by
victories elsewhere. John Howland describes the
gallant Russell as "a young man of good capacity
and handsome address." Thus equipped for action
it is small wonder that the young officer laid success-
ful siege to the heart of Miss Ann Handy, of New-
port, the sister of his friend. Major Handy, whose
company had helped to cheer the vicissitudes of a
soldier's life during the dreary years of the seventies.
At the close of his career as a soldier, our veteran
made his home in Philadelphia for a few years.
Thence he removed to Newport, to enter on a long
and successful career as merchant and ship-owner in

3 34 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

the China trade. A detailed account of the interest-
ing and honorable career of Charles Handy Russell,
the son of Thomas, would carry us far beyond the
limits of this volume.

Thomas's sister Elizabeth, who came with him to
Providence in the days before the Revolutionary
War clouds were fairly above the horizon, was
destined to follow their course with anxious interest
in the years to come. In 1777 she married Doctor
Solomon Drowne, of Providence, " an eloquent and
learned man," and a young surgeon in the Revolu-
tionary Army, whose professional duties took him
far afield for four long weary years. His course in
medicine at the University of Pennsylvania was
supplemented, after the close of the war, by work in
the hospitals and medical schools of Holland and
France. President Manning, of Rhode Island Col-
lege, describes him as "a gentleman of remarkable
modesty, ... a member of the Corporation, and of
unblemished character, on whose information you
may safely rely." The later years of his life were
passed at his home, well known as Mount Hygeia, in
Foster, Rhode Island. There were his famed botani-
cal gardens, whose reputation lost nothing, we may
be sure, from their somewhat inaccessible situation.

Chapter IX

RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE AND THE
"BAPTIST CATHEDRAL"

IN the fall of 1762 James Manning, then a young
man of twenty-four, was graduated from the
College of New Jersey, commonly called Prince-
ton College. In the course of the next six months he
was licensed by the Baptist church at Scotch Plains,
New Jersey, to "preach publicly," and further
recommended "as one sound, regular, and qualified
to preach the Gospel." Armed with these credentials
he set out on his long and successful career as
preacher, teacher, and administrator, pausing only
for the final measure of preparation for the journey
of life — his marriage with Margaret Stites, of
Elizabethtown. This event was speedily followed by
the young minister's public ordination, and that in
turn by his departure for the unexpected field of
labor which, as the event proved, was awaiting him
in the Providence Plantation.

In the early summer he took passage for Halifax,
intending to travel slowly homeward through New
England and the Middle Colonies, and to acquaint
himself at first hand with the religious prospects of
the Baptist denomination in those parts. On the trip
north the vessel touched at Newport, and there

336 Trovidence in Colonial Times

young Manning found opportunity to put in a word
or two respecting the "apprehension" of the Phila-
delphia Association of Baptists that " it was practi-
cable and expedient to erect a college in the colony
of Rhode Island, under the chief direction of the
Baptists." Several gentlemen were interviewed "re-
lative to a Seminary of Polite Literature," and the
suggestion was met with prompt approval by the
Newport magnates. A special meeting of the breth-
ren was devoted to the subject, and Josias Lyndon
and Colonel Job Bennet were appointed to draw up a
charter of incorporation for presentation to the next
General Assembly.

The time was short. It was already July, and the
Assembly met, by adjournment, in August. The
committee was somewhat uncertain as to the requi-
site forms and phrases, and "pleading unskilfulness
. . . requested that their trusty friend. Reverend
Ezra Stiles, might be solicited to assist them." Small
solicitation was required. The Reverend Ezra Stiles
is well known to the present generation, and was far
better known to his own, as a stanch Congregational-
ist, whose zeal for his order would compare favorably
with that of any mediaeval churchman. When the
Philistines of the Baptist denomination delivered
themselves into his hands, as aforesaid, he cheerfully
acceded to their request, and made adroit use of his
opportunity. The charter was forthcoming on the
appointed day, was read to the parties concerned.

Portrait of James Manning, President of Brown
University

From an early engraving.

K3VIWU

^//,v^.. >:/,.„/

%hode Island College 3 37

accepted by them, and sent for confirmation to the
Assembly.

In the confusing array of authorities and powers
presented by the document the simple-minded
hearers had failed to perceive that although the
majority of the Trustees were Baptists, as stipulated,
all real power was vested in the Fellows, of whom
eight out of twelve must be Congregationalists, and
the other four might be.

But when once the document was before the As-
sembly, matters took a different turn. Our old
friend. Judge Daniel Jenckes, was deputy for Provi-
dence, and Jenckes was a good Baptist, a capital
business man, and no mean politician. In a few
terse sentences he pointed out to the astonished
Governor Lyndon the true tenor of the charter
drawn up by his "trusty friend. Reverend Ezra
Stiles." Needless to say, the matter was adjourned
to the next session of the Assembly.

Not unnaturally the Governor took his clerical
friend to task for what might well seem to the irate
magistrate a breach of trust. Doctor Stiles is credited
with an answer which, if not satisfactory, was at all
events sufficiendy explicit, to the effect that he had
merely looked after the interests of his own society,
and the Baptists might have been expected to do as
much for theirs.

Meanwhile new complications were arising at
Providence, whither Judge Jenckes had taken the

3 3^ "Providence in Colonial Times

charter for the enlightenment of all who were inter-
ested in the proposed "Seminary/' The Judge's
house on the Town Parade now became more con-
spicuously than ever a centre of information. His
son-in-law, Nicholas Brown, the rising young mer-
chant and politician, Nicholas Cooke, Rhode Is-
land's first "war governor," Stephen Hopkins, ever
astute and judicious in counsel, and others less well
known came to see for themselves the pit into which
they had so nearly fallen.

A near neighbor and good friend of the Judge's
was Doctor Ephraim Bowen. Albeit a Congrega-
tionalist, he was one of the trusted members of the
little social and business oligarchy of the town. His
son Jabez has frequently appeared in these pages as
an intimate friend of Moses Brown, Nathaniel Balch,
George Hopkins, the Wantons of Newport, and other
gay young sparks of the period. It was not long since
he had married the daughter of Obadiah Brown. It
is not strange that Doctor Ephraim wished to read
the charter, nor that Judge Jenckes lent him the
document. Quite naturally, too, the Doctor passed
it on to his fellow-worshipper. Deacon Samuel
Nightingale, of the Congregationalist Church, whose
orthodoxy was as zealous as that of good Ezra Stiles
himself. At this point in its peregrinations the
charter mysteriously disappeared. The most rigor-
ous search proved unavailing. Doctor Bowen in-
quired and advertised in vain, and when the As-

"RJjode Island College 3 39

sembly met, the unfortunate Judge Jenckes found
himself a mark for insinuations of unfair play and
breach of trust, "which," he says," brought on very
disagreeable altercations and bickerings."

It had already been determined by those high in
the counsels of the colony to make a fresh start. New
members had been added to the committee, and in
the charter as finally adopted the Congregationalists
found themselves in the condition of the man who
was bidden to take a lower seat. Manning has, him-
self, given us a statement of their position : " The
most material alterations were, appointing the same
number of Baptists in the Fellowship that had been
appointed of the Presbyterians by Doctor Stiles;
settling the presidency in the Baptist society ; adding
three Baptists to the Trustees, and putting more
Episcopalians than Presbyterians in the Corpora-
tion." This readjustment of conditions and denom-
inations was not concluded until the February of
1764, nor then without a preliminary series of
charges and counter-charges from the opposing
parties. Although the Reverend Morgan Edwards's
allusion to the charter as "a brand plucked from the
burning" had probably no reference to the warmth
and vehemence of the preliminary debates, it might
well be so applied.

As for Doctor Stiles's charter, it was by some unre-
corded agency returned to its author, and after his
death was stored among the church archives until

340 ^Providence in Colonial Times

well into the nineteenth century. It is now the pro-
perty of Brown University.

Only a few days before the charter was granted
by the Assembly, a "cry from Macedonia" reached
the ears of its pioneer advocate, James Manning.
This appeal for aid came from Warren, a thriving
little shipping-town just above the head of Narra-
gansett Bay, and some ten miles down the river from
Providence. The Baptist contingent in this little
settlement was fairly prosperous, and moved by a
laudable desire to have a church of their own, ex-
tended to the young aspirant for clerical honors
"a call to come over from New Jersey and settle
amongst them." The call was accepted. A church
was built, and later a parsonage, and the young
minister was fairly launched upon his long and
honorable career.

With an eye to the interests of that " Seminary of
Polite Literature" whose cause he had so greatly at
heart, Mr. Manning straightway opened a Latin
School to serve as a feeder to the college when the
latter institution should become an accomplished
fact. His school was immediately successful, al-
though somewhat hampered by difficulties in the
way of equipment. The necessary textbooks were not
to be found in America, and must be sent for to Lon-
don. It is to be hoped that the master realized a suffi-
cient commission on their sale to eke out his meagre
tuition fee of three Spanish milled dollars a quarter.

%hode Island College 341

In September, 1764, the "Corporation for found-
ing and endowing a College . . . within the Colony
of Rhode Island" held its first meeting. Stephen
Hopkins was elected chancellor, the offices of secre-
tary and treasurer were filled,i and the requisite
machinery for soliciting and receiving donations and
subscriptions was set in motion. It was not until a
year later, at the second meeting of the corporation,
that Manning received his comprehensive appoint-
ment as "President of the College, Professor of
Languages and other Branches of Learning, with
full Power to Act immediately in these Capacities at
Warren or Elsewhere."

Among the necessary formalities of collegiate
equipment was the adoption of a college seal. In
accordance with the resolution of the corporation,
the seal was ordered at Boston, with this device,
" Busts of the King and Queen in profile face to face ;
underneath George III, Charlotte ; round the border
the seal of the Colony of Rhode Island and Provi-
dence Plantations in America." Impressions of
these sovereigns as patrons of academic honors still
adorn the college diplomas of those early years.2

The third day of September, 1765, marked an
eventful epoch in the history of the infant "Semi-
nary." It was then that William Rogers, of Newport,

1 Guild, S3.

^ In 1782 the old seal was broken by order of the corpora-
tion, and replaced by that in use to-day.

342 "Providence in Colonial Times

aged fourteen, was duly registered, — the first stu-
dent matriculated at Rhode Island College. For nine
months and seventeen days thereafter he was priv-
ileged to represent the entire undergraduate body of
his alma mater.

In June, 1766, the registration of Manning's
brother-in-law, Richard Stites, increased the student
body by one hundred per cent. In view of this en-
couragement the President felt himself justified in
engaging an assistant. He wrote at once to David
Howell, just on the point of graduating from the
College of New Jersey, to offer the suggestion that it
might be worth his while to look over the ground at
Warren before making any definite arrangement for
the future. "A taste for Learning," wrote Manning,
"is greatly upon the increase in this Colony." Even
Providence had become infected with the prevailing
enthusiasm when, a few months before this, young
Benjamin Stelle, "of the Jersey College," had ap-
plied to Manning for advice, and for a recommenda-
tion as a teacher of youth ; he was straightway intro-
duced to Mr. Manning's friends in Providence, with
the assurance that "his Proficiency is ... as good
as common, and his Character fair and free from
blots."

Within a few months the Latin School founded by
this promising candidate for pedagogical honors was
filled to overflowing, and in the following spring that
young pedagogue felt warranted in breaking ground

Diploma from Rhode Island College (now Brown
University) 1789

Signed by James Manning, David Howell, Perez Fobes,
and Benjamin West. From original document in the
Brown University Library.

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%hode Island College 343

in a hitherto neglected field of educational enter-
prise. He proposed, through the columns of the
indispensable Gazette, "to open a school for the in-
struction of young ladies, in the knowledge of writing
and arithmetic." Two sessions a day for a term of
four months, beginning on the 20th of May, were
planned. The periods were not unduly long, but the
hours named would effectually daunt most academic
ambitions of the present ease-loving generation.
They were *' from 6 o'clock in the morning until half
after 7 ; and from half after four until half after 6, in
the afternoon." Mr. Stelle announced further that the
fee for this tuition would be "two dollars for each
scholar." His proposals seem to have been accept-
able to the public to whom he looked for patronage.
In October a night school was opened for "all Per-
sons who have a Mind to come, or send their Child-
ren," and with the beginning of the second year a
course in reading was added to the curriculum.

In the December of this, his third year in Provi-
dence, Benjamin Stelle married Miss Huldah Craw-
ford, in whom were "agreeably united the several
Accomplishments which tend toward rendering the
nuptial Bond easy and desireable." Miss Huldah
was a sister of Susannah Crawford, who, with her
enterprising husband. Captain John Updike, was
living on the Towne Street in the neighborhood
where Mr. and Mrs. Stelle began housekeeping.
When in 1770, the college itself and the attendant

344 ^Providence in Colonial Times

Latin School were removed to Providence, our pio-
neer schoolmaster in that abode of the illiterate be-
took himself to other paths of usefulness.

In August of that eventful year occurred the death
of the old doctor, Colonel Jabez Bowen, at the age of
threescore years and fourteen, — **for a great Num-
ber of Years . . . eminent in the Practise of Physics
and Surgery," says the Gazette. Doctor Jabez came
to Providence from Rehoboth in the early twenties of
the eighteenth century. He was one of the many in-
teresting and cultivated men who acted as leaven
upon the crude substance of our local society. The
mantle of this skilful practitioner fell upon the
shoulders of his nephew Doctor Ephraim, whose
mansion-house adorned the Parade, and whose son.
Doctor Jabez the younger, was renowned alike in the
social, medical, and military circles of Rhode Island
Colony. Old Doctor Jabez left one son, Benjamin,
who during the doctor's lifetime managed the apoth-
ecary-shop opposite the family dwelling-house, and
whose most prominent claim to the remembrance of
posterity is the fact that shortly after his father's death
he took Benjamin Stelle into partnership in the drug
business. The two men were already joint owners of
a chocolate-mill, to the evident satisfaction of both
parties.

Old Doctor Jabez lived at the foot of the present
Bowen Street. Across the way was his "well-known
Apothecary's Shop just below the Church, at the

"RJoode Island College 345

Sign of the Unicorn and Mortar." Benjamin Bowen
and Benjamin Stelle offered for sale, in August, 1770,
a full assortment of medicines, "Chymical and
Galenical," as well as the chocolate with which they
were wont to supply the Providence public, " by the
Pound, Box, or Hundred-weight."

It was, however, several years previous to these
developments in the career of Benjamin Stelle that
David Howell received the letter from President
Manning, already quoted. He accepted its sugges-
tion, looked over the ground, and was shortly in-
stalled as tutor in the college at Warren. Thence-
forth his interests and abilities were identified with
his new home.

Within another twelvemonth the members of the
class of 1769 increased from two to six, and by
commencement day still another aspirant for aca-
demic honors had appeared in the person of James
Mitchell Varnum, lately of Harvard. There is cir-
cumstantial evidence to warrant the assumption that
this young man's career at the older institution of
learning had not commended him to its college
authorities. Be that as it may, he assuredly saw fit
to spend the last year and a half of his college course
at Warren. His later career as lawyer, major-general
in the Revolutionary Army, and member of the
Continental Congress covers the critical period of
Rhode Island's history.

The first commencement exercises of Rhode Island

346 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

College were held in the meeting-house at Warren, on
September 7, 1769, before an "Audience consisting
of the principal Gentlemen and Ladies of this Col-
ony, and many from the Neighbouring Govern-
ments." Although "large and crowded," this august
assembly (we are told) "behaved with the utmost
decorum." This encomium does not impress us as
entirely gratuitous when we pause to remember that
the commencement programme on "this auspicious
day" (to quote the valedictorian) lasted from morn
till dewy eve, being appropriately concluded with a
sermon by the Reverend Morgan Edwards. Our
pioneer student, young William Rogers, was well to
the fore with an oration on "Benevolence," "in
which," says the reporter for the Gazette, "among
other pertinent Observations, he particularly noticed
the Necessity which that Infant Seminary stands in
for the Salutary Effects of that truly Christian
Virtue."

The programme (to use our modern term) was a
broadside of fifteen by nineteen inches, and con-
tained in addition to the names of the chancellor,
president, faculty, and members of the graduating
class, the Latin Salutatory, and a Latin syllogistic
dispute. This form of programme, with such varia-
tions in the Latin portion as could be obtained by a
change of the subject of discourse, was used until
1795. In that year an "Order of Exercises" in
English was substituted.

%hode Island College 347

The first issue of the commencement broadside
called especial attention to the fact that the names of
the graduating class were printed in alphabetical
order. This was a marked departure from the cus-
toms of Harvard and Yale, where the students had
from early colonial days been seated in the order of
precedence to which their social rank entitled them.
The "placing" of a class in college under such condi-
tions was a delicate matter, and the claims of disap-
pointed, or slighted, students and their friends were
no small addition to the burdens resting on the col-
lege authorities. Precedence in class carried with it
the choice of rooms and the privilege of being served
first at table.

Among the commencement announcements of
1769 was the appointment of Mr. Howell to be pro-
fessor of natural philosophy. There is no intimation
of any increase in his salary of ;^72 per annum. We
have Professor Howell's own statement that he not
only conducted the courses in natural philosophy,
but also "endeavored to initiate my pupils in the
rudiments of classical learning, and instill into their
minds the elementary principles of law." Inas-
much as, three years later, the philosophical appara-
tus was enumerated as "a pair of globes, two micro-
scopes, and an electrical machine," it would seem
that the laboratory courses in that science were not
exhaustive.

Public attention was now drawn to the question of

348 "Providence in Colonial Times

housing this ''Seminary of Polite Learning," which
had enforced its claims to consideration by educating
and graduating a class of young men. In the words
of that eminent Baptist, Morgan Edwards, "some
began to hope, and many to fear, that the Institution
would come to something and stand." Some eight
hundred pounds had been already obtained from
well-wishers in England and Ireland to erect a
college building in Warren, but at this juncture of
affairs "some who were unwilling it should be there,
and some who were unwilling it should be anywhere
. . . proposed that the County which should raise
the most money should have the College."

Existing rivalries in trade and politics lent all their
enthusiasm to this new competition. Newport and
Providence strove to outdo one another, and at
times it seemed as if a compromise on a third town
— either Warren or East Greenwich — would be the
outcome. After much consideration of many me-
morials, and careful balancing of pros and cons, it
was decided that "the college edifice be at Provi-
dence." The contest aroused much bitterness of
spirit. President Manning, when asked if it had
raised up a new party in the government, replied
with perfect truth, "it has warmed up the old ones
something considerable." "Warmth" is a very mild
term to apply to the red-hot rhetoric of the " Enemy
to all Hypocrites," who worked off his pent-up agita-
tion in a letter to the editor of the Newport Mercury ^

%hode Island College 349

wherein Manning is denominated "a wolf in sheep's
clothing," and the proceedings of the final meet-
ing are unequivocally stigmatized as "bribery and
corruption."

In the first bitterness of disappointment steps were
taken to establish a rival college at Newport. A
charter was drawn up and passed the lower House,
but for reasons which failed to become matters of
record it was rejected in the upper House, where
those astute politicians, Moses Brown and Daniel
Jenckes, watched over the interests of the Providence
electorate. A "Remonstrance" on the part of the
Corporation effectually debarred the rival enterprise
from finding favor in the eyes of the new Assembly.

It cannot be doubted that the college president
was enthusiastically in favor of Providence, nor can
we wonder that this centre of Baptist influence
commended itself to him. While the selection of an
abiding-place was yet pending. Manning urged his
good brother in the faith, Nicholas Brown, to a step
which he felt must clinch the matter. He says, "as I
think you have the good of the College at heart more
than they [the Newport party] it will stand you in
hand to demonstrate this in the clearest light; and
this you can do by proffering to build the College
yourselves . . . Say nothing about the President's
house ; but consult how large a house you can build,
and finish two stories with your own money, in as
short a time as you can possibly accomplish it, and

3 5 o "Providence in Colonial Times

engage to finish the rest as fast as wanted. . . . You
can here make all the advantage yourselves, from
lying handy to the materials; the whole weight of
this will be thrown directly into your scale, and you
can promise just as much more than they can, as the
edifice can be erected cheaper with you than with
them, and as you will prosecute it with more spirit
and do the bargaining and work with less expense.
Here, too, you will have the advantage of them, as
you have made out bills of everything, and bespoke
the materials and workmen, and push it immediately
into execution." i

We can hardly err in ascribing a certain amount of
influence to this bit of lucid reasoning. Six weeks
before a decision was reached as to the permanent
situation of the college, namely, on December 29,
1769, Nicholas and Joseph Brown signed an agree-
ment to advance to the treasurer of the college the
sum of ;^3090, legal money, that being the amount
of "a great Number of Subscriptions procured
Signed but unpaid . . . the Abilitys of the Signers
thereof being unknown to the Trustees and Fellows
or the Treasurer"; but this munificence was of
course conditional on the removal to Providence.

It was in May, 1770, that the corner-stone of

University Hall was laid, and from that time forth

the building went merrily forward under the shrewd

management of Nicholas Brown and Company.

1 Guild, Doc. Hist. B. U., 195.

%hode Island College 3 5 ^

With that eye for practical detail which ever dis-
tinguishes the successful business man, Mr. Brown
and his brothers watched the progress of the edifice
destined to house the "infant Seminary," in whose
success they felt so keen an interest.

Even before ground was broken for the new build-
ing, the removal of the college became an accom-
plished fact. The president and scholars took up their
abode in Providence a few weeks after the decisive
vote. The former was temporarily accommodated
in the old Bowen house on the Towne Street, while
the student body was dispersed among the towns-
people, and boarded at the rate of $\.^$ a week.
Recitations were conducted in the upper story of
the brick schoolhouse on Meeting Street. The little
group of perhaps a dozen and a half students soon
settled down to academic routine, and by the No-
vember of 1 77 1, they were provided with accommo-
dations for lecture-rooms within the walls of the first
college buildings.

It was at this date that Doctor Stiles recorded a
visit to the college, "where five or six lower rooms
are finished off. They have about twenty students,
though none yet living in the College edifice." Since
1823 the "College edifice" has been known as Uni-
versity Hall. It was built after the model of Nassau
Hall at Princeton, put up in 1756, and was regarded
with admiration by the academic public of the colo-
nies. Only two stories were put up at first in the

35 2 'Providence in Colonial Times

Providence building. In 1785, a third was added,
and in 1788, the fourth.

The lot selected for the college grounds was some
eight acres in extent, situated at the top of the hill
above the Towne Street, and running eastward
toward the Seekonk River. The southern half of
this property was part of the home lot of the "first-
comer," Chad Brown. It was purchased by the
college authorities from Chad Brown's great-great-
grandsons, John and Moses Brown, for three hun-
dred and thirty dollars. The northern half of the
college grounds was purchased from Oliver Bowen
(the son of Doctor Ephraim Bowen) for four hun-
dred dollars.

"When the fixing of the College edifice here was
firmly settled," writes Moses Brown to President
Wayland in 1833, "our house, then composed of four
brothers, viz., Nicholas, Joseph, John, and Moses
Brown, concluded to take charge of building the
necessary buildings, purchasing land for the same,
etc." Records and balance-sheets are still in exist-
ence to prove the careful detail and elaborate preci-
sion with which each disbursement was laid out and
accounted for. The postage of a letter to Philadel-
phia, a month's work "at the foundation," " 5^ gall.
West India rum for the digging of the well," "seven
squares glass in Mr. Snows meeting house, broke at
Commencement," are entered side by side with a
stated equivalent of pounds, shillings, and pence.

From an early engraving, made by S. Hill after a draw-
ing by D. Leonard.

ads vv'a^

3Hr aviA ovriaviiu9 aoaj.ioO Tfey; ( ^

.fvu-.n.r, T a v,'f ^.^rrl

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%hode Island College 35 3

The first president's house was contemporary with
"the College edifice." It stood about a hundred feet
in front, and a little to the right, of the main building.
In 1840, "a new and elegant mansion" for the use of
the college executive was built across the street from
the college yard, at the corner of College and Pro-
spect Streets, and the old house entered on its down-
ward career, literally as well as metaphorically. It
was removed to a site on the north side of College
Street, below Benefit, where its identity is well-nigh
lost in that of the uninviting row of buildings.

For five years after the removal to Providence,
commencements were held in the meeting-house of
the worthy Mr. Joseph Snow, on the West Side of the
river, and this for the excellent reason that no other
building in town could accommodate the throngs of
interested listeners.

Although the college was small and poor, it enjoyed
the utmost respect and consideration at the hands of
its fellow-townsmen. The commencement procession
was invariably headed by the President and His
Excellency the Governor. We are told that the effect
was most impressive, that "Governor Wanton was
the most dignified and respectable looking man ever
seen," while "the white wig of President Manning
was of the largest dimensions worn in this country."

By the beginning of 1772, Doctor Manning felt
justified in writing to a friend in London as follows :
"The College edifice is erected on a most beautiful

354 Trovidence in Colonial Times

eminence, in the neighborhood of Providence, com-
manding a most charming and variegated prospect; a
large, neat, brick building, and so far completed as to
receive the students, who now reside there, the num-
ber of whom is twenty-two." The greatest needs
were a library and a philosophical apparatus. "At
present we have but about two hundred and fifty
volumes, and these not well chosen, being such as our
friends could best spare. . . . Our whole College
fund consists of about j^goo sterling, being the whole
sum collected abroad, for no money collected without
the colonies is made use of in the building, but solely
applied in endowing it."

To the duties of college president and minister of
the gospel. Doctor Manning united those of head
master of the Latin School. This institution came
from Warren with its founder and the college to
Providence, where it filled a long-felt want, as is set
forth in the following advertisement: —

Whereas several gentlemen have requested me to
take and educate their sons, this may inform them, and
others disposed to put their children under my care,
that the Latin School is now ... set up in the College
edifice, where proper attention shall be given, by a
master duly qualified, and those found to be the most
effective methods to obtain a competent knowledge of
grammar, steadily pursued. At the same time, spelling,
reading, and speaking English with propriety will be
particularly attended to. Any who choose their sons
should board in commons, may be accommodated at

"RJoode Island College 355

the same rate as the students, 6 shillings per week
being the price. And I flatter myself that such atten-
tion will be paid to their learning and morals as will
entirely satisfy all who may send their children. All
books for the school, as well as the classical authors
read in the College may be had at the lowest rate of the
subscriber.

James Manning.

When we consider that at the date of this an-
nouncement (1772) Doctor Manning's salary as pre-
sident was £^']. 13. 4. plus a house and garden, to
which his stipend as minister of the Baptist church
added £^0, it will be readily admitted that any rev-
enue from the Latin School could hardly come amiss.
The school's career was long and useful. In 1809, a
new building was put up at the head of College Street
for its accommodation, under the auspices of the col-
lege authorities. Its title was also renewed, and from
that time until the closing years of the nineteenth
century it held, as the University Grammar School, a
creditable position in the academic ranks of New
England.

An outline of the Latin School curriculum has just
been quoted in the words of no less a person than its
worthy founder. It will interest us to glance for a
moment at the intellectual bill of fare offered by the
college. Young Solomon Drowne, of Providence,
matriculated in 1770. His later career has been
touched upon in connection with the marriage rec-
ords of the Russell family. He has left us in his diary

356 'Providence in Colonial Times

an account of some of his intellectual experiences as
a freshman. In October, 1770, his studies began in
Horace, Longinus, and Lucian ; to these French was
added in December. Under the date 1 771, he writes:
"Recited with the first class that recited in the new
College Building. Commenced Geography in Janu-
ary; Xenophon in February; Watt's Logic in May;
Ward's Oratory in June; Homer's Iliad in July;
Duncan's Logic in August; Longinus in October;
Hill's Arithmetic same month ; Hammond's Algebra
and British Grammar in December."

It seems that the days of vacation were too few and
unimportant to justify their mention in this academic
calendar.

By 1783, the spirit of revolution had made itself
felt, and in the college laws of that year vacations
were specifically provided for "From September 6th
to October 20th; from December 24th to January
24th; and from the first Monday in May three
weeks," leaving thirty-nine weeks of term-time to
the scholars of that hale and hearty generation.

The second-year courses were in ethics, Euclid,
metaphysics, trigonometry, Cicero, philosophy, use
of the globes, and Hebrew grammar.

This modern Solomon graduated in 1773, the vale-
dictorian of his class, fully impressed with the im-
portance of the occasion. "At length the day, the
great, the important day, is come," he writes. "O
may it prove propitious. Now we must pass from

"RJdode Island College 357

easy College duties into the busy, bustling scenes of
life." The prophecy, as regarded his own future,
was fairly accurate. An experience of four years as
an army surgeon was eventually followed by twenty-
three years of service as college professor, the greater
part including the anarchic administration of Presi-
dent Asa Messer, when it may fairly be said that the
bonds of discipline were burst asunder.

During Solomon Drowne's undergraduate days,
however, the vigilance of the college authorities was
unremitting. Life outside the classroom was regu-
lated to a degree that would seem to a student of the
present day fairly preposterous. According to the
"Laws and Customs of Rhode Island College," in
1774, students were required to attend both morning
and evening prayers. The former were held at six in
the summer, and at seven in the winter. Each stu-
dent was also required "to attend public worship
every First Day of the week steadily." No student
could be out of his room after nine in the evening,
nor was he then, nor at any other time, permitted to
play "at cards or any unlawful games, swear, lie,
steal, or get drunk ... or attend at places of idle
and vain sports." During the "hours of study"
(from nine to twelve, from two to sunset, and from
seven to nine) no language save Latin might be
spoken in the college edifice, or the college yard.

Freshmen were called upon "to kindle a fire sea-
sonably before morning prayers." The body of the

35^ Providence in Colonial Times

underclassmen were recommended to the especial
care of the seniors, who had authority to detain of-
fenders after evening prayers, "and there admonish
them . . . correct and instruct them in their general
deportment in such minute particulars of a genteel
carriage and good breeding, as does not come within
any express written laws of the College," while "the
delinquents" are bidden to receive the same "with
modesty and submission, and punctually observe."

For commons the boys seem to have received a
bountiful supply of good substantial food, agreeable
to the specifications carefully stipulated and drawn
up by no less august a body than the corporation.
Twice a week the dinners were of salt meat, either
beef or pork, "with peas, beans, greens, roots, etc.,
and puddings." Fresh meat — either roasted, baked,
boiled, or fried, with vegetables — was served twice
a week. One dinner was to consist of "soup and
fragments," one of "boiled fresh meat with a proper
sauce or broth," and one "of salt or fresh fish with
brown bread. For drink, good small beer or cider."
For breakfast, tea or coffee was served with white
bread, or toasted brown bread, and butter. But if
chocolate or milk porridge was selected to drink, then
no butter was served with the bread. Suppers con-
sisted of "Milk with hasty pudding, rice, samp,
white bread, etc. Or milk porridge, chocolate, tea,
coffee, as for breakfast."

It was further provided that " the several articles

l9iS!i

View of the First Congregational Church

Corner of Benefit and Benevolent Streets, erected 1795,
destroyed by fire, 18 14. From an old engraving by
William Hamlin.

/ Colontal 1

y to detain of-

ng prayers, ''and there admonish

and instruct them in their general

articulars of a genteel

within

■ the

■irh

rreens, ic,

oasted, baked ,

1 twice

■ood H-

^e was served with white

ed bro^ 1, and butter.

iniik p selected to drink, theij

lae br^ ' ^ is con-

• ^' samp,

e, tea.

; nicies

"RJjode Island College 359

and provisions . . . be diversified and changed as to
their succession through the week, . . . with the
addition of puddings, apple pies, dumplings, cheese,
etc., to be interspersed . . . as often as may be con-
venient and suitable." For this table one dollar a
week was charged.

In 1774, amid ominous mutterings from the war-
clouds of the Revolution fast gathering on the polit-
ical horizon, the last commencement in " Mr. Snow's
meeting house" was held. The temper of the times
was shown by the presence in the procession of the
"Company of Cadets in uniforms, who," says the
Gazette, "made an elegant and truly military appear-
ance, and both in the procession and manoeuvres,
which they performed on the College Green, pro-
cured universal approbation, and convinced the
spectators, that Americans are no less capable of
military discipline than Europeans."

After 1774, the well-known First Baptist Meeting-
House, at the foot of Waterman Street, was available
for commencement exercises.

Since this religious society had been under the
ministrations of President Manning it had grown
apace. When his ministry began, in 1770, the church
had a membership of one hundred and eighteen.
The early Baptists were opposed on principle to the
payment of money for religious ministrations, and
James Manning was the first Baptist minister in
Providence to receive a salary. In his case it may

360 'Providence in Colonial Times

surely be affirmed that the servant proved worthy of
his hire. It is true that the obnoxious fact of his
"holding to singing in public worship" hopelessly
discredited him in the eyes of the ultra-conservative
element of his congregation, and his lax views re-
specting the "laying on of hands" led the advocates
of a stricter theology to withdraw from the society.
Nevertheless his efforts were rewarded, within a few
years' time, by a revival which nearly doubled the
membership of the church. Its members were raised
to a total so imposing that it at once became evi-
dent to every one that the little meeting-house on
the Towne Street was quite outgrown. The more sub-
stantial and public-spirited Baptists took counsel
together, and embodied the results of their cogita-
tions in a resolution to the following effect: " That we
will all heartily unite as one man in all lawful ways
and means ... to attend to and revive the affair
of building a meeting house for the public worship of
Almighty God, and also for holding Commencement
m.

According to an ancient and honorable tradition,
the lot selected for the new meeting-house was then
an orchard belonging to John Angell, who is credited
with being the last of the Gortonists, and who at all
events was no admirer of the Baptist theology. It
was felt, and doubtless with reason, that Mr. Angell
would be violently opposed to selling his property as
a site for a Baptist meeting-house. In this dilemma

View of the First Baptist Meeting-House,

ERECTED 1775

From an engraving first printed in the Massachusetts
Magazine for August, 1789, and engraved by S. Hill.

'^mmm.-jt%\

"EJjode Island College 3 6 1

the guile of the serpent was resorted to, and with suc-
cess. Good William Russell, a pillar ot the Episcopal
Church, admired and trusted by all who knew him,
was induced to negotiate the purchase as if for him-
self, and then to convey the lot to the Baptists.

A lottery was then put before the public, in order
to raise funds, and tickets were sent to the neighbor-
ing towns to be disposed of among friends of the
college and the Baptist society. Nicholas Brown
wrote to Benjamin Mason, at Newport, enclosing
"A Scheem for a Lottery for Building a Meeting-
house designed to Accomodate Publick Commence-
ments and is to be Built strong and Convenient for
the purpose ... the Ladies that have a Taste for
such Exebetions will be much Accomodated in the
Safety of their Persons, as well as Elegence and Con-
venience of the Building for the purpose designed
. . . pray feel round amongst yr. friends and those
to the Cause and let us know how Many [tickets] you
Can dispose of and they shall be sent."

The tickets were divided into six classes, with
prices ranging from five to two and one half dollars.
The " cheerful assistance and encouragement of the
public" was solicited through the columns of the
Gazette^ as well as by personal correspondence, and
eventually some seven thousand dollars were se-
cured.

Meanwhile a committee of two, namely, Joseph
Brown and Jonathan Hammond, were instructed to

362 ^Providence in Colonial Times

go to Boston "as soon as may be to view the different
churches and meeting houses there, and to make a
memorandum of their several dimensions and forms
of architecture." Joseph Brown has long been given
the position of chief architect, together with the
honor attaching to a really creditable piece of work.
His claim has been questioned, but since the matter
at issue is after all one of adaptation and not of origi-
nal design, the game would not seem to be worth any
great expenditure of powder and shot. The model for
the new meeting-house is acknowledged to be St.
Martin's-in-the-Fields, in London, a church designed
by James Gibbs, a noted follower of Sir Christopher
Wren.

The total cost of the lot and meeting-house is esti-
mated by the historian of Brown University to have
been twenty-five thousand dollars. "When we con-
sider the scarcity of money in those days," says
Guild, "the dangers of the impending war with the
mother country, and also the fact that Providence
was a small town, containing a population of four
thousand three hundred and twenty-one, we are
amazed at the energy, enterprise, and skill which
could successfully complete so great an undertak-
ing." Good Doctor Guild's pious satisfaction in this
monument to the public spirit of the eighteenth-
century Providence would have been changed to
incredulity not unmingled with contempt could he
have seen his fellow-townsmen of the twentieth cen-

"EJoode Island College 3^3

tury preparing to hand over the old First Church,
its spacious yard and beautiful elms, to the tender
mercies of a railway corporation in the interest of
what are called better transportation facilities. The
episode of Esau and his birthright has been played
on many a sordid stage since the days of Jacob and
his brothers, but seldom without better justification
than in the present instance.

Ground was broken for the new meeting-house
early in the summer of 1774. Stiles says, writing
under date of October 6, "Viewed the Frame of a
large Baptist Meetinghouse in Providence 80 feet
square raised last Month; this to be the Baptist
Cathedral for America." The frame was advertised
to be raised on August 29, when "all Carpenters and
others who are willing to assist" were "desired to
attend on such Days as shall be most convenient for
them, for which they will receive the Thanks of
the Committee." The house was opened for public
worship on Sunday, May 25, 1775, when President
Manning preached the dedicatory sermon.

The building attracted attention throughout the
American colonies, and soon became one of the
" sights," to be included in the itinerary of all tour-
ists, whether foreign or domestic. Almost precisely
one year from the day on which Doctor Stiles was
privileged "to view the Frame," he records in his
diary the interesting fact that he has "viewed the
new Baptist Meetinghouse." He pronounces it "the

364 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

most superb and costly Edifice of the Kind in New
England," and describes it as "highly ornamented,
tho' with mixt Architecture meant to be after the
Doric Order: it has," he concludes, "a most lofty
Steeple." The architectural ornamentation, thus
critically mentioned, must refer to the pillars sup-
porting the gallery of the church. These may with
some plausibility be described as "meant to be after
the Doric Order." It may be said no less truly of the
exterior that its architectural adornments are "mixt."
Doric pillars support the porch covering the front
entrance, while in mid- air a truly marvellous com-
bination of square columns with would-be Ionic
capitals forms the lower and supporting story of the
steeple proper.

The final additions to the new building were felt to
give the last touch of dignity and decorum. A bell
and a clock were imported from England. The latter,
after holding for many years without a rival the
proud position of town-clock, was brought down
from its high estate to adorn a humbler field of labor
on the spire of a mission church nearby.

The bell has been several times recast. It origin-
ally bore the following inscription : —

For freedom of conscience the town was first planted.
Persuasion, not force, was used by the people.
This church is the oldest, and has not recanted,
Enjoying and granting bell, temple, and steeple.

Steeples and bells were forbidden to the dissenting

%hode Island College 3^5

chapels of the mother-country, and it was no doubt a
comforting thought for the pious colonial dissenter
that in outward pomp of circumstance his meeting-
house compared favorably with King's Church, a
little further up the street, or even with Old Trinity,
at Newport.

In 1792, Nicholas Brown the younger — the son of
our old friend Nicholas, who has figured so fre-
quently in these pages — gave two thousand dollars
to provide a lot and parsonage ; and in the same year
his sister, Hope Brown, gave the crystal chandelier.
Tradition tells us that this was first lighted on the
evening of her wedding. Whatever may be involved
in that statement, it is doubtful if even tradition
would incur the responsibility of asserting that the
wedding so celebrated took place within the illumin-
ated meeting-house. So great a departure from the
standard of decorum prevailing in the Baptist socie-
ties would certainly not have been sanctioned by the
family of the conservative Nicholas Brown, who
might well have served his fellow-townsmen as a
pattern of dignified conventionality.

In 1834, the historic interest of the building was
sadly diminished by a remodelling of the interior.
The high pulpit with its sounding-board, and the
square pews were banished, no doubt in response to
the demand for greater seating capacity.

Chapter X

PROVIDENCE HOUSES, 1785-1830

^FTER the war of the Revolution, Provi-
/% dence entered on an era of great prosper-
-X. -A^ ity. This was brought about by her
shipping-trade, and especially by the trade with
China and the East Indies. Great wealth was
brought into the town, and the foremost ship-owners
and merchants lived in a way of corresponding
luxury. They built houses of stately dignity, with
large, square, high-studded rooms, and walls that
defy even the New-England east wind, and their
beautiful woodwork still serves us as a model for
decoration.^

One of the best examples in New England of this
type of architecture is the house built by John Brown
on Power Street, in 1786. It is now Number 52
Power Street. In the following year John Brown
sent the first ship from the port of Providence to the
East Indies. This W3.s the General fFashington. John
Brown was a great admirer of Washington. When he
built the first Washington Bridge over Providence
River, close to his new wharves and docks, he
placed a wooden statue of his favorite hero on the
new bridge, and gave it its present name. His house
^ Dow, American Renaissance Houses in Bristol.

John Brown House, Power Street

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■ y;;£{ I ifiifj noiariBin oi&^/'v .w.

.njitrCl :,A 8iUiW Y<J ■

Trovidence Houses 3^7

on Power Street was designed by his brother, Joseph
Brown. Joseph was a man of scholarly, rather than
commercial aptitudes. He is said to have lent a hand
in designing the First Baptist Church. He also
worked on the design of the Old Market House at the
foot of College Street, now known as the Board of
Trade. This building was put up in 1773. It was
originally of two stories. The windows in the ground
floor now take the place of the market-stalls. In
1797, permission was given to the Order of Free
Masons, to which almost every man of wealth and
social consideration in town belonged, to add a third
story. This was to be held as their own property.

Besides these buildings, Joseph Brown designed
his own home at 72 South Main Street, a little south
of College Hill. It is a beautiful old house, now oc-
cupied by the Providence Bank. The doorway was
originally on the level of the second story, and was
reached by a long flight of steps from either side of
the central landing. The street floor was used for
shops. The house was built in 1774. Joseph Brown
was an astronomer and physicist, as well as architect.
For some time he held the position of professor of
experimental philosophy at Rhode Island College.

Another wealthy merchant, named Joseph Night-
ingale, built the house. Number 354 Benefit Street,
at the corner of Power Street. This dates from 17QI.
It and the John Brown house across Power Street
were the two most costly residences of the Providence

3^8 Trovidence in Colonial Times

of that day. The Nightingale house is now known as
the John Carter Brown house, having been sold to
the Browns by Mr. Nightingale's heirs.

Farther up the street, at the corner of Power and
Brown Streets, is the house built by Thomas Poynton
Ives, in 1816. Thomas Ives came to Providence from
Beverly, Massachusetts, when he was thirteen years
old, as an apprentice for the shipping firm of Nicho-
las Brown and Company. His abilities commended
him not only to his employer, but to his employer's
daughter as well, and in 1792 he married Hope
Brown, in whose honor Hope College was named
some thirty years later. From an apprentice young
Ives rose by appropriate stages to a partnership.
The name of the firm then became Brown and Ives,
by which it has ever since been known. The old
counting-house of Brown and Ives is Number 50
South Main Street, and is still used by their descend-
ants for office purposes.

In the good old days the bales and packages were
brought on board ship to the wharf, or slip, just
across the street, and hoisted from the decks to the
windows of the loft, over which still depends the
heavy iron ring where once the ropes were made fast.

From the upper windows of Thomas Ives's new
house on Power Street he could overlook the beau-
tiful garden of his neighbor Edward Carrington,
whose mansion on Williams Street, built in 18 13, had
been for three years the admiration of all Providence.

"Providence Houses 3^9

It is Number 66 Williams Street, and is still owned
and occupied by the Carrington family.

At the other end of the hill, on Prospect Street, a
little be^'^ond Barnes Street, lived one of the leading
lights of Providence social circles — Colonel Thomas
Lloyd Halsey. In 1801, his house on South Main
Street was destroyed by fire, and he then built the
large brick house with swell fronts, which stands on
the west side of Prospect Street, on the crest of the
hill. It has been atrociously modified by so-called
improvements within the last five or six years. The
Halsey farm extended to Hope Street and included
the site of the present reservoir.

The old Halsey mansion boasts not only a well-
developed ghost, — a piano-playing ghost! — but
also a fine large bloodstain, which cannot be
scrubbed from the floor, but which does not appear
to all observers. It eludes those investigators who
are prompted by a vain curiosity, or by a desire to
gather statistics of psychological phenomena ; but to
those whose minds are free from prejudice and whose
hearts are truly sympathetic it never fails to appear.
For many years the negroes living in the neighbor-
hood objected to passing the place after dark, and
while it stood empty (as it did for long periods) not
one of them could have been induced to enter it.
Tales were current of a piano played for hours at a
time within the empty house, in that uncanny inter-
val between midnight and daybreak.

370 'Providence in Colonial Times

Another old house is that built probably by Ebene-
zer Knight Dexter in 1796. It originally stood facing
George Street on part of the lot where Rhode Island
Hall stands to-day. When this lot became the pro-
perty of the college, the Dexter house was moved
across the campus to Waterman Street. It is now
owned and occupied by Doctor Day.

At about the same time, Ebenezer Knight Dexter
also built the house on Benefit Street which stands
over the opening of the tunnel. This was that
Ebenezer Knight Dexter who gave the Dexter
Asylum to the city of Providence.

Another interesting house on Benefit Street is the
Sullivan Dorr House, Number 109, built on the
model of Pope's villa at Twickenham. Sullivan Dorr
was father of Thomas W. Dorr, the hero and victim
of the Dorr War in 1842, which gained manhood
suffrage for the State of Rhode Island. The Sullivan
Dorr house has a remarkably beautiful staircase.
Its mural decorations are probably unique among
Rhode Island houses. They extend around the upper
and lower halls, and the drawing-room, above the
low wainscoting, and are the work of a Neapolitan
artist, who visited Providence in 18 10. Their scope
is wide. Among them are Italian landscapes, one
with Vesuvius and one with a ruined castle conspicu-
ous in the foreground. There are also scenes of a less
exalted nature, — one of a farmhouse and yard, in
which some recent restorer of the realistic school was

Joseph Nightingale House

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s, one

"Providence Houses Zl^

moved to paint the clothes-line with all its weekly
burden of household linen. I am sorry to say that
this crowning touch was not permitted to remain.

At the corner of Benefit and College Streets, we
have the quarters of the Handicraft Club. This de-
lightful old house was built by Truman Beckwith in
1820. His family deplored his selection of a site thus
remote from the centre of civilization. "Well," said
his brother-in-law, " I can't see why Truman wants
to build up there in the lots!"

Ebenezer Knight Dexter also built the house at the
head of Cooke Street, on Angell Street, known to-
day as the Diman house. The house was sold by
Mr. Dexter, and changed owners twice after that be-
fore it became the property of Alexander Jones, in
1 8 1 1 . Mr. Jones was a former resident and merchant
of Charleston, South Carolina, and a graduate of
Brown University in the class of 1801. He called the
place Bellevue. The better to enjoy this view he had
the roof built to a square, where were seats and a
balustrade, from which on a clear day Newport, at
the end of Narragansett Bay, could easily be seen.

Alexander Jones lived there until 1837. His son,
George F. Jones, has given a little account of life in
Providence when he was a young man. The town
had then a population of about eleven thousand.
There were but four houses, of which the Jones house
was one, between the College building and the See-
konk River, to the east. Mr. Jones tells us that in 1 825

372 Providence in Colonial Times

or 1826, his father, who had been to Boston and
Salem, purchased at the latter place and brought
home the first pair of India-rubber overshoes that
were seen in Providence. They were about a third
of an inch thick, hard, stiff, and unyielding, and it
was necessary to warm them thoroughly before they
could be put on. One only wonders how they were
ever taken off again!

Among other graphic reminiscences is that of the
introduction of anthracite coal. The pioneer was a
certain Mr. Wood, who had a grate put up in the
parlor of his house on Waterman Street, and issued
an invitation to the public to come and see the
"black stones" burn. The general astonishment
was unbounded, and some incredulous citizens made
a second visit to assure themselves that it was not all
a dream.

In those days churches were not heated. In St.
John's a wood fire was made in a large stove in the
vestry-room on Sunday mornings, and there the boys
and girls were wont to gather with the family foot-
stoves, which were filled with live coals of oak and
walnut, and carried into the frigid pews for the pur-
pose of stimulating religious enthusiasm.

The march of improvement was slow out of doors,
as well as indoors. Pavements were not generally
laid down until late in the eighteenth century. They
were of large round stones, and the sidewalk (when
it was anything but a mere bank of earth) was of the

:'-^fS«j!l;'ioi^3(isf«^t:

Sullivan Dorr House

Corner of Benefit and Bowen Streets, built early in the
last century and designed by John H. Greene. It was
long the residence of Thomas W. Dorr, whose efforts to
reform the suflPrage in Rhode Island brought about the
Dorr War. From a photograph taken about 1870.

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Vrovidence Houses 37 3

same material. Through the middle of the street ran
a long line of stones of larger size than the others.
These were called, "the crown of the causeway.'*
Along this narrow path ladies, and people who were
more than usually careful for the safety of their
clothes, picked their way in wet weather.

Until 1820, people whose business or pleasure took
them abroad after dark guided their steps over the
uneven walks by means of hand-lanterns. In 1820,
for the first time, the streets were lighted at the
expense of the town.

In those days the fashionable shopping-district
was Cheapside, a name given to the west side of
North Main Street from Market Square northward
for perhaps four or five blocks. There, in 1805, the
firm of B. H. Gladding Company (then Watson and
Gladding) began its career at the " Sign of the Bunch
of Grapes," and there the business was carried on
until 1880. The original sign is in the cabinet of the
Rhode Island Historical Society.

In 1828, the Arcade was built on Westminster
Street, showing that the town's business centre was
shifting to the West Side of the river. It is said that
the Madeleine, in Paris, was the stimulus for erecting
the six or seven "Arcades" that appeared in various
parts of the United States about this time. Of these,
the Providence Arcade is the only one now standing.
The pillars have been said to be the largest monoliths
in America, with the exception of those in the Cathe-

374 Vrovidence in Colonial Times

dral of St. John the Divine. The pediment on the
Westminster Street end is triangular, while that on
Weybosset Street is rectangular, in shape. This va-
riety of decoration is due to a difference of taste
on the part of the two architects, who thus compro-
mised their difficulties. The Arcade was, in its day,
considered a triumphal combination of elegance and
utility. Under one roof, sheltered from wind and
rain, purchasers found wherewithal to clothe them-
selves, from bonnets to rubber overshoes. It was the
advance guard of the modern department store.

In those days communication with the outside
world was well provided for. In 1817, when Presi-
dent Monroe visited Providence, he landed from a
small government steamer, called the Firefly. This
was a tremendous innovation, but before many years
had passed the Providence and New York steam-
boats were famous throughout the Atlantic seaboard.
When, in 1823, the steamer Fulton succeeded in
making the voyage within twenty-four hours it was
heralded in the newspapers from Maine to Georgia
as the latest wonder in rapid transit.

Those were the piping days of stage-coach travel.
In the summer of 1829 there were three hundred and
twenty-eight stage-coaches a week running between
Boston and Providence, besides many local stages to
points nearer the city.

Occasional sightseers came to Providence, as to
other towns. Some of these put their impressions

The Arcade

Built 1827-28; for many years after its construction
one of the chief objects of interest to visitors. From an
old lithograph in the Rhode Island Historical Society.

^Providence Houses 375

into print, and among them was Mrs. Anne Royal,
of Virginia, who wrote in 1826: —

Providence is a very romantic town, lying partly
on two hills, and partly on a narrow plain, about
wide enough for two streets. ... It contains fourteen
houses for public worship, a college, a jail, a theatre, a
market-house, eight banks, an alms-house, part of
which Is a hospital, and 12,800 Inhabitants. . . .
Providence Is mostly built of wood, though there are
many fine brick edifices In it. . . . The streets are wide
and regular, and most of them paved, with handsome
sidewalks, planted with trees. It Is a very flourishing,
beautiful town, and carries on an extensive trade with
the East Indies. The town of Providence owns six
cotton factories, two woollen factories, twelve jewel-
ler's shops, where jewelry is manufactured for export-
ation. . . . The citizens are mostly men of extensive
capital. ... I made several attempts to see Brown
University, but was finally disappointed. I called
several times at the house of the President, but never
found him in. The buildings . . . are not extraordin-
ary, either for size or architecture. ... I am told it
is well endowed, has a president and ten professors, and
averages 150 students. . . . The citizens of Provi-
dence are mild, unassuming, artless, and the very milk
of human kindness. They are genteel, but not so re-
fined as the people of Boston. . . . They are stout,
fine looking men; the ladles, particularly, are hand-
some, and many of them highly accomplished. Both
sexes . . . have a very independent carriage.

THE END

Index

Abbott, Daniel, 39, 123-126, 154,

203.
Abbott, Daniel, Jr., 192, 194, 197.
Abbott, Mary, 192.
Abbott's Parade, 198.
Admiralty, judge of, 263-264.
Advertising signs, 319-321,325, 326,

327, 345-

Africa, 270, 272, 274, 275, 276. See
also Guinea Coast.

Ainsworth, Rev. Henry, Annota-
tions, 86.

Alexander, Indian sachem, 87.

Algiers, 81.

Allen, Zachariah, 18.

American Revolution, 324, 328,

329, 331, 334, 359-
Amusements, 303-313.
Anabaptism, 26.
Anamaboe, 273-274.
Andrews, John, 264.
Angell, Abigail. See Goddard, Mrs.

William.
Angell, Capt. Abraham, 195, 252-

2S3, 257-
Angell, Brig.-Gen. Israel, 317.
Angell, James, 221-222.
Angell, President James B., 195.
Angell, John, 360-361.
Angell, Thomas, 15.
Ann, schooner, 252.
Antigua, 251, 270, 274.
Antrim, William, 163, 184.
Antrim, Mrs. William, 184.
Apothecary shop, 344-345.
Aquidneck, island of, 32, 91.
Arcade, the, 373-374-
Arithmetic, 215-217, 219.
Armstrong, Gen. John, 332.
Arnold, Benedict, 56, 61-62.
Arnold, Oliver, 321-323.
Arnold, Richard, 157.
Arnold, Thomas, 65.

Arnold, William, 101-102.

Arnold family, 176.

Ashford, Conn., 200.

Assembly, the, petitions to, 210,
211, 220-221, 284-292, 307-309,
336-340, 349; laws, orders, and
resolves of, 103, 108, 109-110, 123,
153-154, ^(>7, 183, 212, 213, 222,
223-224, 225.

Atheism, 172-73.

Attleborough, Mass., 172, 189, 279.

"Attleborough Gore," 147.

Atwell, Amos, 221.

Backus, Rev. Isaac, 31, 95, 98.

Balch, Nathaniel, 320, 338.

Baltimore, Md., 317.

Bank Lane, 210.

"Baptist Cathedral." See Baptist
Meeting-house, First.

Baptist Meeting-house, First, 204-
206, 223, 359, 360-365, 367.

Baptists, 27, 38, 40, 76, 78, 108,
131-132, 140, 160, 163, 165, 181-
182, 183, 184, 189, 190, 195, 203,
204-206, 230, 329-330, 335-365,
passim. See also Baptists, Six
Principle, Baptists, Five Princi-
ple, and Baptists, Philadelphia
Association of.

Baptists, Five Principle, 76.

Baptists, Six Principle, 131, 152,
230-231.

Baptists, Philadelphia Association
of, 336.

Barbadoes, 129, 227, 249, 253, 257.

Barbary pirates, 81.

Barnard, Mary. See Williams,
Mary.

Barnes, John, 228, 232.

Barrington, Lady, 5, 7, 8.

Bass, Rev. John, 200-203, 295, 296,
299, 301.

378

Index

Basue (Bissao?), 273.

Battle, Mrs., 231.

Bay Colony. See Massachusetts.

Beckwith, Truman, 371.

Beer, 112, 116, 117, 126.

Beggar^ s Opera, The, 311.

Beneficent Church, 198.

Bennet, Col. Job, 336.

Bennett, Joseph, 297.

Berkeley, Dean George, 166.

Bernon, Gabriel, 159-160, 161, 163,
164, 180-181, 183, 184, 185-187,
188, 189-190, 193, 298.

Bernon, Mrs. Gabriel, 185, 186.

Bewit, Hugh, 130.

Black Boy, Sign of the, 331, 327.

Blackstone, Rev. William, 147.

Blackstone River. See Pawtucket
River.

Block Island Channel, 238. -

Books, 85, 86, 116, 150, 151, 172,
173, 175, 179-180, 256, 316. See
also Libraries.

Boot, Sign of the, 320.

Boston, trade of, 151-152, 178, 228,
293, 297; donation from, for
King's Church, 164; opposition
of, to Checkley, 170-171; reli-
gious efforts of, 189-190; Provi-
dence fire-engine at, 222; vessels
from, 255; music in, 304; stage-
coaches to, 325, 374; refinement
of the people of, 375.

Bowen, Benjamin, 344, 345.

Bowen, Dr. Ephraim, 177, 267, 302,

338, 344, 352-
Bowen, Dr. Jabez, Sr., 234, 243,

344-345-
Bowen, Dr. Jabez, Jr., 236, 260,

284, 302, 320, 338, 344.
Bowen, Mrs. Jabez, 259-260, 261,

263.
Bowen, Oliver, 352.
Boy and Book, Sign of, 325.
Bradford, Gov. William, 11.
Bradstreet, Gov. Simon, 135.
Brady and Tate's Psalms, 175.
Braintree, Mass., 294, 295.
Braxton, Carter, 271-272.

Brazen Lion, Sign of the, 320.

Brinley, Francis, 81.

Bristol, R. L, 185, 192, 296, 301.

Britannia, ship, 263.

British, the, 268, 333, 365.

Brooks, John, 147.

Brown, Chad, 38-39, 176, 192, 230,

352-

Brown, Mrs. Chad, 39.

Brown, Elisha, 221, 255, 267, 279-
281, 283-286, 288.

Brown, Mrs. Elisha, 280.

Brown, Hope. See Ives, Mrs.
Thomas.

Brown, J., 236.

Brown, James (I), 39.

Brown, James (II), 231, 233, 238.

Brown, Capt. James (III), 177,
230-255, passim, 258, 275, 279.

Brown, James (IV), 253-255.

Brown, Mrs. James, Jr., 177, 230,
232, 239, 247, 255.

Brown, John, Sr., 39.

Brown, John, Jr., 39, 177, 215, 216,
217, 265, 269, 272-273, 283, 284,
306, 307, 309, 352, 366-367;
Cipher Book, 215, 233. See also
Brown, Nicholas, and Company.

Brown, John, son of Nathaniel,
185.

Brown, John Carter, 368.

Brown, John Carter, House, 321.

Brown, John Carter, Library, 254.

Brown, Joseph, 177, 272-273, 276-
277, 283, 350, 352, 361-362, 367.
See also Brown, Nicholas, and
Company.

Brown, Moses, 17, 39, 177, 178,
234, 236, 255, 258-259, 260, 261,
262, 272-273, 276-277, 283, 284,
320, 338, 349, 352. See also
Brown, Nicholas, and Company.

Brown, Nathaniel, 150, 161-163,
184-185, 188, 228, 229.

Brown, Nathaniel, Jr., 185.

Brown, Nicholas, Sr., 177, 178, 254-
255, 269, 271-273, 274, 276-277,
283, 304, 306, 307, 309, 319, 327,
338, 349-3SO» 352, 361, 365. See

Index

379

also Brown, Nicholas, and Com-
pany.

Brown, Nicholas, Jr., 319, 365.

Brown, Mrs. Nicholas, Jr., 319.

Brown, Nicholas, and Company,
271-272, 273, 274, 276-277, 350-
351, 368.

Brown, Obadiah, 221-222, 244-255,
'passim, 260, 276, 338, 376. See
also Brown, Obadiah, and Com-
pany.

Brown, Obadiah, and Company,
255, 263-264, 270, 315.

Brown, Polly. See Bowen, Mrs.
Jabez, Jr.

Brown, Justice Richard, 205.

Brown and Ives, 368.

Brown University, 318, 340, 362,
371, 375- 5i?' "■^^o Rhode Island
College.

Browne, Rev. Arthur, 166, 167,
170, 186.

Bunch of Grapes, Sign of the, 373.

Burrough, Mrs. Desire. See Hop-
kins, Mrs. Esek.

Burrows, William, 65-68.

Callender, Rev. John, Historical

Discourse, 135.
Candles, 133, 134, 222, 250, 275,

276.
Canonchet, Indian chief, 88, 99.
Canonicus, Indian chief, li, 18-19,

21, 46.
Cap Frangois, 259, 263.
Carew, Dr. Samuel, 202.
Caribbees, the, 244.
Carpenter, Timothy, 196.
Carpenter, William, 73.
Carrington, Edward, 368-369.
Carter, Ann. See Brown, Mrs.

Nicholas, Jr.
Carter, John, 318-320, 324.
Catherine II, 314.
Cattle, 29, 30, 55, 105, 128, 275.
Cawcawmsqussick, 21, 43, 44-46,

47.

Chace, Henry R., 184.
Chace, Samuel, 177.

Charlestown, R. I., 224.
Charlotte, queen of England, 316,

341.
Charming Molly, sloop, 265.
Cheapside, 373.
Checkley, Rev. John, 170-177, 179,

180, 185, 194-195. 264.
Checkley, Mrs. John, 179.
China, 331, 334, 366.
Chirurgions Mate, The, 85.
Church of England, 4, 7, 9-13, 160,

161, 162, 166, 170, 171, 174, 204.

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